Intertwined
by Surarrin
Summary: [AR]Among the hundreds killed by the Kyuubi, one special girl was also killed. She was not fated to die. Thus the Shinigami gave her a choice, to remain in the realm of the living. Too bad she forgot to ask what the catch was. [Abandoned]
1. Death and a Child

**I felt like writing something new. People who read An Alternate path, don't worry I only spent two days on this. Not even that relaly, I spent most of the time playing Neverwinter nights. i'll start on chapter 23 tomorrow If I'm allowed to. Otherwise, You'll haev to wait until wednesday, bauwhuahwa. On an awesome note, I have a Graphic Tablet. :D**

**I'm nice, so this stories pairing will be entirely decidable by the votes it gets, in other words, **

**PICK WHO YOU WANT IT TO BE!**

**Hinata? Sakura?( Please don't) Ino? Tenten? Temari? Kin? Tayuya? Shizune? Tsunade? Kurenai? Anko? Female!Kyuubi? Female!Haku? Female!Gaara( Just threw that in to see if anyone would scream and claw their eyes out)**

**Entirely up to you, I have nothing really in mind for this story- Except awesomeness.**

**Jon**

* * *

She stood upon the tops of the trees along with a squad of Konoha Jounin and Chuunin. She had no idea how her life had boiled down to what it was; In front of them stood a vision of the deepest nightmares. Glancing to her comrades she saw looks of hidden terror, and awe upon their faces. She snorted lightly; they were all supposedly more experienced then her. If that was true then why did she feel nothing at the sight of the monstrosity which threatened to end their lives? Had she, like they all said lost her humanity?

"Our orders are to stop it at all costs until the Hokage arrives." stated the leader of the group as he stared out towards the colossal beast.

A snort almost escaped her once again. Was she truly the only one among them that did not want to be simply discarded, thrown away like trash? Was she the only one with nothing left to lose except her life? That must have been it, ever since he tainted her with his mark; she had lost everything, every semblance to respect from her fellow shinobi.

Before them The Nine Tailed Demon Fox, Kyuubi stood in all its dreaded glory. Scattered around it countless bodies laid upon the ground, none of them fully intact. It was a massacre. No one could say anything less. Slowly a smirk began to form upon her face as she watched her fellow Konoha ninjas begin to attack again. Wave after wave attacks, and in each wave at least one met their end.

The self-righteous who attacked head-on were always cut down by Kyuubi. Those who attacked from its blind spots were swapped down like flies, crushed underneath its enormous tails. The smell of blood was thick in the air, even as far as they were from the Kyuubi the smell reached them. But despite the scene she felt at ease. It was what her **_beloved_**-sensei taught her; '_Always keep a calm head, even if you are in a pile of dead bodies, if you act out, you will join them in being just that; a body'_

She did not want to be reduced to a body; she did not want to die. But she would not abandon her duty and allow the beast to destroy her home. There was only one option viable. Stop it and Stay alive until the Hokage arrived. If the blond haired freak could not beat it, all hope was lost for Konoha; the village would be destroyed.

She glanced around to her comrades. They were all tensed, and glaring at the beast who had slaughtered so many of their own, their comrades, their friends, and even their family. They wanted revenge, they wanted to see the beast bleed, they wanted to defeat it. As Anko stared at the face of the captain, she realised she could say the same for him as well.

'_Why can't I feel as they do?'_ she wondered as she turned her eyes back to the single enemy. '_Why do I feel out of place?_' A snide voice inside her head answered her.

'**_Because you aren't truly alive any more girl, you're heart is as dead as those lying prone in front of you.'_**

A frown appeared on her face, she had not expected an answer, much less an answer she couldn't control. Had she finally snapped? Was that why she held no fear at facing the giant beast? Was it because she wasn't alive any longer?

Slowly she brought her hand up to her chest and slid it under her coat, placing it over where her heart was. At first she could not feel anything except the rise and fall of her chest with the breaths she took, but slowly, a soft thump began to echo in her mind. She was alive, she wasn't dead.

"Anko now isn't the time for that." remarked someone from her right.

Anko's left eye twitched agitatedly. Morino Ibiki stood next to her. She would have hit him if it were a different situation. Instead she simply sighed and removed her hand from her chest.

"Lewd Bastard." snapped Anko half heartedly.

She really could not muster the anger towards the man. It was obvious that he was simply trying to loosen the tension in the group. She'd have to hurt him later, or rather if she got any comments from anyone he'd be a broken man, in four ways. Slowly Anko turned to face Ibiki, as she did, a sadistic smile formed upon her lips. As the smile reached its zenith the whites of her teeth were just revealed along with the points of her teeth. Had it been anyone else they would have flinched, but alas Ibiki was not any normal man.

He was declared to be the most gifted Torture and Interrogation specialist in Konoha, if not the five major Hidden villages. For a moment she entertained the idea of a contest between the main interrogators in each village to see who could extract the information from a person the quickest. The rational part of her brain quickly decided that it would not be possible to find enough Victi-guinea pigs that every village hated.

The irrational side of her brain instantly supplied the answer; Missing-Nin's no one would care about those who deserted their village, it would even work better if each 'contestant' were given a traitor from their own village. The rationality of her brain quickly conceded, even it had to agree with the idea.

"Alright, get ready, we attack in half a minute." yelled the leader of the squad.

Both Anko and Ibiki turned their attention to the matter at hand; there was no time for jokes when the battles began. Joking meant death, and no one wanted anyone to die, unless they happened to be a big ass demonic fox.

Anko's right hand slid down to her outer thigh, quickly feeling through the material of her weapons pouch. She quickly counted the content in her mind. Once again her left eye twitched as she finalised the numbers.

**Four Kunai**

**Ten Shuriken**

**Eleven meters of wire**

**Three explosive tags**

**Four flash bombs.**

She almost swore out loud, she had been sure that she had already gone to the weapons shop to stock up on battle supplies. Painstakingly past she calmed herself down. It did not truly matter, although they would help in her opening attack, her specialties were far from simple weapons.

"Go!" yelled the leader as he kicked off from his place mong the trees and launched himself towards the Kyuubi with such speed he appeared as a dark blur. Anko would have laughed if the matter wasn't so serious. Who would have thought he would have been foolish enough to attack the beast directly?

She wasn't the only one who seemed to think that way; most of the squad began rushing to the far sides of the enemy, trying to stay out of its attack range as they got closer. Glancing to her right, Anko was surprised to see Ibiki still standing there. The Surprise vanished as his hands slipped into a single hand seal.

"**_Bunshin no Jutsu_**." He stated calmly.

The area around them was instantly covered in smoke. As the smoke began to flow away with the night time breeze Dozens upon Dozens of Ibiki's were revealed. One by one they began to charge at the Kyuubi, dodging sporadically and drawing the Kyuubi's attention by the vast number.

"Don't take too long to attack, you'll miss all the _fun_." remarked Ibiki as he leapt from his position among the trees and out of sight. A hollow laugh took flight into the wind from Anko's lips as she reached into her weapons pouch and withdrew what she needed. She had only one attack before the attention of the Kyuubi was drawn to her, if she messed up, then she would be dead a lot quicker then she would otherwise.

It had taken her a few moments to prepare her attack; half of Ibiki's clones were already decimated. It seemed the Kyuubi had found itself a game; it was only targeting the multitude of Ibiki's surrounding it; giving the rest of the squad openings to attack it without it noticing.

A smirk became pronounced on Anko's face as she readied herself for her move, there was no way she would let Ibiki take all the credit. Anko's eyes flashed slightly as she watched the Kyuubi turn its head towards her. In an instant she had channelled a considerable amount of Chakra towards her legs.

Without any reason to remain Anko jumped towards the Kyuubi. In her right hand the various linked weapons rattled as she dodged by tree after tree. Silently she burst from the forest.

"Raien, HEAD'S UP!" screamed Anko as her eyes landed on one of the few squad members that talked to her. The man's dark eyes flashed as he took quick note of the implements in her hand. Turning around to face Anko, he crouched down on the ground and placed both of his hands palm side up against each other on the ground in front of him.

Anko smirked as she barrelled along the terrain towards Raien. As soon as her right foot landed on his hands she felt herself being thrown upwards, going along with the movements she kicked off hard from the pair of hands launching her skywards. She had to admit, from directly above the battlefield it looked a lot worse then it did from the trees. But she had no time to dwell on the scene of carnage. Kyuubi's head was less then ten meter's from her, it was time to make her move and hopefully not be eaten.

Gripping the two Kunai within the palm of her hand, Anko watched the Kyuubi turn its head toward a source of noise conveniently created by Morino Ibiki. It was now or never, she decided. A battle cry erupted from her lips as she arched her arm in front of her body, releasing the two projectiles as her arm reached its full length. The shout had drawn Kyuubi's attention back to her jut in time. For a moment Kyuubi's blood red eyes stared directly into her own unable to comprehend of what she was doing. A feeling of horror overcame all her senses as she found herself lost within the massive orbs.

But she need not have paid it any attention, her attack had been successful, with a howl of pain from Kyuubi, the two Kunai pierced the sides of its eyes, stretching the cable between them to its full length.

"Boom." whispered Anko.

A thundered shockwave tore from Kyuubi's face as four flash bombs and three explosive notes exploded simultaneously. Anko smiled in satisfaction as the Kyuubi began to thrash around, scratching at its face. It was short lived. In its mindless thrashing, one of the Kyuubi's paws somehow managed to slam into her body.

With a silent scream Anko was sent plummeting downwards to one of the many trees scattered through the area. But she wasn't finished yet. Her attack had brought a renewed assault from every direction as the Kyuubi was blinded. Skilfully Anko twisted her body as she landed against the tree, allowing her to place her feet between her and the trunk.

A sadistic smirk took place upon her lips as she with all her might kicked off the tree and flew towards another tree opposite her. Once again she repeated the manoeuvre until she was once again in the air. Her hands began to flash through hand-seals as she stared own at the Kyuubi. The only seal repeated was the seal of **Hebi**.

"**_Ninpou: Hebi shikon akumu_**" echoed Anko as she finished the series of hand seals.

Instantly a large serpent head diagram appeared in front of Anko. The eyes of the serpent were burning blue as it opened it's mouth and continued to do so until the entire energy mesh diagram was encompassed with the inside of it's mouth.

"Execute!" snarled Anko as her body began to succumb to gravity and fall earthwards. The energy symbol however remained in the air, gathering all the energy in it towards the centre. The outer rim began to fade as the energy left it. With a shattering sound, the attack exploded, sending fragments of Chakra outwards in every direction. Slowly they all began to curve towards the Kyuubi, until the sky was alight with the flying blue fangs. A booming howl of pain erupted from Kyuubi as the shards pierced its skin.

Fear began to course through Anko's veins as the Kyuubi's eyes locked onto her falling form. She watched in morbid fascination as the Kyuubi began to turn. Nine long tails sliced through the air towards her. She could almost feel the air in the area distort from the speed they were moving. She had been too show offish. In the distance she could see the growing form of a toad. A smile formed upon her lips as the tails of the Kyuubi slammed into her form. Only to be replaced by a grimace of pain as the spine like hair's sliced her body as it sent her flying helplessly away.

A short scream tore from her lips as her back slammed into a thick trunk. She could feel the splintering wood dig into her back, piercing her skin. A bitter smile took form on her face as she felt the tremors of Gamabunta moving closer. Her eyes began to feel droopy, but with all her might she kept them open, fixated on the Kyuubi's body.

"You look like hell." remarked a voice from Anko's right.

A soft smile took form on Anko's lips as she recognised the voice.

"You don't look that good yourself you know, Ibiki." retorted Anko weakly.

"How bad is it?" Ibiki asked after a moment.

Anko remained silent as she twitched the various parts of her body, wincing each time she found something that was, for lack of a better word broken. A bemused smile took place upon her face as she watched the hulking form of Gamabunta attract Kyuubi's attention.

"Is this the end for Mitarashi Anko? I think so." She murmured emotionlessly.

"You're certain?" asked Ibiki blankly.

Anko could only nod; she was already losing feeling in her lower body. She watched in wonder as the minuscule form of the Yondaime began to shift his hands through a never ending set of hand seals. Upon the final seal, The Yondaime seemed to point towards the colossal demon in front of him.

A blinding flash of white light washed over the battlefield. Anko's eyes widened as a ghastly form appeared behind the Hokage.

'_The Shinigami.'_ thought Anko in awe.

The awe turned to morbid fascination as she watched the demonic god reach through the Yondaimes body towards the Kyuubi. Slowly her vision began to blur, no matter how hard she fought it, the darkness at the corners of her eyes began to consume the light. She could see nothing, all she could do was feel, feel the slowing thud of her heart as it tried to keep her alive.

"Be well, Anko." was the last thing she heard before total darkness met her.

Was this death? Anko wondered it wasn't as unpleasant as they had thought it would be, it wasn't pleasant, it wasn't anything, or was it? There was nothing, no taste, no sound, nothing to feel. Nothing existed, as paradoxical as it sounded, Nothing _did_ exist, she was in it, was she apart of it? She didn't know.

A glimmer of something appeared in front of her. In the nothingness around her something began to slowly manifest from the nothing. Anko stared emotionlessly into the eyes of the Shinigami as loomed ominously in her vision. Slowly it reached up to its mouth and took hold of the handle of the knife held with its teeth.

"Do you wish to remain in the world of the living?" it asked coldly as it drew the weapon from its mouth.

Anko's mind raced at the possibility of remaining alive. Quickly she tried to open her mouth, only to find, that she did not have one. An alarmed feeling took root in her mind, only to vanish at the grim smile upon the Shinigami's mouth. It was a terrifying sight to behold.

"So be it." it rasped out as it placed the ceremonial knife back within its mouth.

A flash of pain took hold of her body as the nothingness faded away to the forest. She stared straight ahead, only barely realizing that the Kyuubi's body was dematerializing. The shock quickly wore off as she turned her head towards where she had last seen the Shinigami It had disappeared, and the Yondaime was motionless upon the top of the giant summon.

'_I'm alive?'_ she wondered in fascination as she brought her hand up to her face. Turning her head to Ibiki she smiled, expecting him to smile down at her worriedly. The moment her eyes landed upon him a sickening lurch took hold of her body, pulling backwards. Her eyes widened as she for a moment stared at her pale blood soaked body, lying against the splintered tree she had been slammed against.

With a quick glance over her shoulder's Anko's eyes widened as she watched a large tree rush towards her, her morbid fascination remained as she watched the tree until it came within meters of her, her eyes instinctively shut as she awaited the immense pain which would no doubt come from being pulled into a large tree. Instead of the pain she had expected, an unpleasant sensation ran through her entire body, it as if she was under water, the pressure was very similar, but she could still breath.

The sensation quickly vanished and with it, Anko opened her eyes, glancing away from the direction she was flying towards. Her eyes widened as she noticed the large tree she had supposedly hit remained upright. Slowly at first the pull began to lessen, soon the world stopped flying away from her. A small wince escaped her as she tumbled backwards along the ground by her own momentum.

Anko remained motionless as she stared blankly up at the sky, wondering what had happened to her, if she was alive or dead. The longer she stared, the more she realised she wasn't living, neither was she entirely dead. She had already died; she was not in her body. Was she a ghost? Her thoughts were soon interrupted as an unpleasant wail broke the silence of the post-battle mourn.

The cry gradually got louder and louder, until Anko could no longer stand it. Slowly she brought her limbs into a dignified position and pushed herself off her back. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the middle of the small clearing she was in.

Six candles were burning lightly on top of a platform in the shape of a hexagon; it was made out of stone. Anko stood up and dusted her coat off. Quietly she moved closer towards the 'centrepiece' of the clearing. Her eyes softened slightly as they fell upon the sight of a baby, lying upon a white cushion.

"What are you doing out here, little boy?" she asked curiously, Anko didn't expect an answer, or for him to even acknowledge her presence, after all he was just a child, and she was, well dead. It was to her immense surprise that the crying instantly stopped. Slowly, the child opened its eyes, until Anko was staring into the bluest eyes she had ever seen. A frown slowly formed upon her lips as her eyes trailed down to three parallel scratches upon the baby's cheeks. Hesitantly Anko brought her hand up from her side and reached into the crib like basket.

Gently she caressed the boy's cheek, her eyes widened as the boy's cheek depressed slightly under the contact from her hand. She could feel the soft skin of his cheek. Quickly she brought her hand away from the Childs face and gripped the pillow underneath him. Only to tense as her finger's slipped through the material, as if it did not exist.

"Well isn't this odd?" murmured Anko as she shifted her focus back to the child to take a good look at him.

The baby hair was a dull yellow, it looked quite damp. But Anko was hesitant to test it if it were. The big blue eyes stared up at her innocently. Could he really see her? From the size of the baby she doubted that it was even a month old. Was it another weird unexplainable thing? Her eyes slowly drifted down to the ink black seal upon the baby's stomach.

Lazily she traced the design from the outside in; she had never seen something like it before.

"Aren't you full of mysteries?" she murmured softly.

A soft giggling sound soon fell upon her ears, drawing her attention from the seal to the child's face, there was a smile upon it, and giggles were escaping his mouth.

"Ticklish, are we?" she asked amusedly, as she brought her finger tips down over the boy's bellybutton.

The sounds of foot steps from behind her caused Anko to turn around just in time to watch the Sandaime Hokage walk into the clearing, his eyes were not upon her; instead they were focused beside her, on the bundle of giggles that she had met moments before.

"Hokage-sama?" asked Anko blankly.

Her confusion became paramount as the Hokage continued forwards, his eyes still upon the child. Still she resisted the urge to scream out to ask if he could see her. As he came into range of the candle surrounded basket, Anko reached out to his shoulder, intent on letting her presence be known; her hand glided through the older mans shoulder, as if he did not exist at all. Or rather she did not exist at all. But the strange feeling of pressure was still there.

"I had expected you to be crying, Naruto-kun." murmured the Sandaime softly as he stared down at the post-giggling now named Naruto.

"So you're named Naruto?" Anko asked to no one in particular as she turned back to the crib and stared down at the happily squirming form of 'Naruto.'

"You're braver then I thought you would be. But then, for what you have been cursed with, it is most fortunate and welcome."

'_Cursed with…?'_ thought Anko as she shifted her gaze from the blue eyed baby to the current Hokage.

"Your father's last wish was that you be seen as a hero. Hopefully we can make that come true. For you are a hero aren't you? The container of the Kyuubi, the protector of Konoha." He trailed off as he realised that Naruto could not understand him.

While Naruto could not understand him yet, Anko had no such problems. Wide eyed, she stared down at the innocent form of Naruto. She was hard pressed to imagine such a child being able to both hold back the demon Kyuubi and be so happy.

"Are you really what he says you are? Is that what the whisker marks, are? Do they mark you as with such a curse? Is that what the diagram on your stomach is for? It's the seal that holds the beast back?" Anko asked down to the boy in the cot.

Naruto's eyes quickly shifted to her and he gurgled happily. Something that surprised both Anko herself and The Sandaime, who glanced towards Anko, only to see no one and turn back to the small boy. Gingerly he reached down to the boy and picked him up.

"We must get you properly dressed and then present you too Konoha. If all goes well, you will remain as happy as you are today." Declared the Sandaime gruffly as he held Naruto close to him and kicked off from the clearing; towards Konoha.

Anko watched blankly as the Sandaime and Naruto rose up into the sky. A familiar lurch of her body was all she had time to feel before her body was flying after them. A short scream echoed from her lips as her back made a sickening crunch. Grinding her teeth together, Anko forced her eyes to remain open as she thought over the past few minutes. This had happened before once the Kyuubi had been sealed. The Kyuubi was sealed inside Naruto? She had been pulled to Naruto. She was being pulled by Naruto.

She was stuck with the kid.

Anko sighed softly as she let her body be dragged across the sky after the Ex-Hokage and the Demon container. The Shinigami had asked her if she wanted to stay in this world. She had assumed he had meant that she would be living and free. It had a sick way of bringing truth to its words. She was still in the world of the living, yes- But she wasn't alive. Another sigh escaped her as she glanced at the small tuff of blond hair visible from her trailing position. It was going to be a long eternity.

* * *

Anko watched with unrestrained boredom as the small bundle of energy known as Uzumaki Naruto began to wake from his sleep. The first thing, as always, would be his arms raising up above his head and stretching. After that, always he would roll over and accidentally fall onto the floor.

**Thud**

"Owww."

Next he would stand up and rub his head, mumbling a good morning once his eyes were laid upon her.

"Good morning Anko-sama."

As always it brought a smile to her face. Anko knew that asking the little boy to refer to her as such was pathetic, but she really didn't care. After five years of having nothing to do but baby sit the blond haired boy, she deserved something. And as every morning came, so did Naruto's morning hug attack.

It was something that she had never been able to figure out. Why was Naruto the only thing she was able to touch? Probably for the same reason that she was stuck to him, she reasoned. Without thinking about it, Anko wrapped her right arm loosely around Naruto's back, hugging him gently.

There was one thing that Anko had insisted as soon as Naruto had been able to speak and understand words. He was **_never_** allowed to let anyone know she was there. After the first few years of constantly being around the small boy, she had become more attached to him then the actual bond between them. It probably helped that he would do whatever she asked him to without asking why.

It was a good thing too, without her, he may have ended up dead already from how the villagers looked at him. The Fourth's wish never came true, in the eyes of the villagers Naruto was as bad as the Kyuubi, the whisker marks did nothing to lessen the thoughts. He was Kyuubi in human form to them. It was something Anko had never been able to understand. If they truly thought that Naruto was Kyuubi, why did they treat him so?

Anko could admit easily that if she was still alive, the thought of harassing a demon outright was a bad idea. If Naruto was a demon they would all be dead. Thoughtlessly Anko brought her hand up to Naruto's ehad and gently brushed a few stray locks of his spiky hair behind his ear.

"You still have the money I told you to keep right, Naruto-kun?" Anko asked flatly.

Naruto's ehad bobbed up and down quickly.

"Yeah yeah! In the…uh…" Naruto's enthusiastic reply stumbled as he tried to remember the name of the place he had put the money.

A smile lit up upon Anko's face as she watched his brow furrow in concentration.

"In the drawer thingy!" said Naruto excitedly after a few more moments, pointing towards one of the few pieces of furniture in the room.

Anko grinned sadistically, only to falter as she watched Naruto try to mimic her facial expression. A small chuckle escaped her lips as she watched Naruto try to look as devious as herself and continuously fail. It was endearing to watch the small boy try so hard.

"Alright, after you have a shower and then get dressed we will go search for her alright?" Anko said brightly, hoping to stop the mimicking boy from practicing her trade mark facial expression.

It wasn't long before Naruto was washed and ready. He was wearing a plain black shirt and shorts. Nothing spectacular, it was all he could afford. It was a big day for him, if they found the person they were looking for, and if they were able to trick her. They had a grand total of ¥10,000. With it if Anko's plans went accordingly Naruto would be able to live a bit better for at least a few weeks.

Her sensei had talked about the woman quite often, even fondly, a surprising thing for him. It instantly made her a role model for Anko. That was until she had found out some of her bad habits. Then it just went down to respect. But as the saying went, '_Need before greed'_ and Naruto definitely needed it.

The first place they decided to check was the last place they would need to. They had found their target quite quickly. Luck was on their side for the day, but they didn't need that, after all, they had Anko.

"Repeat after me." Anko ordered as they stood behind the woman.

Naruto did not even make the slightest acknowledgement of Anko's words. It was one of the things she had drilled into his head continuously. To everyone else she didn't exist. And if they found out that Naruto thought she existed, he would be locked away or worse killed.

"Excuse me Tsunade-hime?" echoed Naruto as soon as Anko spoke.

The woman in green slowly turned around and glanced down to Naruto, he could see that she was only slightly intoxicated; he could barely smell the sake upon her breath. Her eyes widened slightly for a moment, before they returned to normal. Recognition had flashed through her eyes for a moment, before fading away and leaving only disappointment.

"Want to play poker?" Naruto asked innocently as he repeated Anko's words.

The Youthful looking woman snorted lightly as she turned back to the bar she was sitting at, giving Naruto a nice view of the blond hair covered back of her head.

"No thanks kid, I bet you don't even know how to play Poker." She mumbled softly.

"I bet I can beat you with ease." Naruto retorted heatedly at the recommendation of Anko.

As Anko told Naruto what to say, she was sitting beside Tsunade checking her face for signs of emotion. A smirk appeared on Anko's face as the first signs of anger appeared on Tsunade's face.

"Put your money where your mouth is boy." retorted Tsunade casually, she had expected that the boy had no money at all, and it was just a friendly request.

"Alright, you put, you put YOUR money where your mouth is." retorted Naruto childishly.

Anko's eyes narrowed slightly as she shot a glare at Naruto, one that he outwardly didn't even acknowledge, but she had been a round him to long for him to hide anything from her, the sign was there, it was the small twitch of his left eye, almost invisible.

She let out a shaky breath as she awaited Tsunade's reaction. As luck would have it, a superior smirk had appeared on the older woman's face, a good sign; she had been unable to stop herself from getting annoyed at Naruto.

"Alright kid, come with me, let's get a table before I take your money." She said casually as she slipped from the bar and dropped a small amount of money on the counter. Naruto and Anko smiled in satisfaction as they followed the well endowed woman down the street.

"Good work Naruto-kun." praised Anko lightly as she imagined what she would be able to get for Naruto after some…sneaky tricks.

After a small walk they arrived at their destination, and the game instantly began once Naruto showed Tsunade his pack of cards. Needless to say, with Anko there Tsunade did not stand a chance. Game after game Naruto either folded or won.

Tsunade yelled in frustration, making Naruto wince. He had started off with ¥10,000 and much to Tsunade's frustration that had periodically increased to a massive ¥450,000. Behind Tsunade Anko was literally jumping for joy. Naruto however much he wanted to mimic his 'Role model' he remained as stoic as possible, only giving a small smile to Tsunade.

Neither Naruto nor Anko could have guessed what would happen next. Tsunade took on a thoughtful expression as she stared down at Naruto.

"Kid, what did you say your name was?" she asked innocently, and for all intents and purposes she was, for now.

Anko nodded lightly to Naruto, it would do nothing to endanger them or anything foreseeable.

"Uzumaki Naruto, my name is Naruto, Tsunade-hime." answered Naruto happily.

Tsunade nodded lightly.

"Tell me, Naruto-kun do you like it here?" she asked curiously, Anko could see the calculating gleam in her eye; it was starting to worry her.

"Answer her truthfully." Ordered Anko, she herself wanted to know how Naruto found his life. She would never have asked if Tsunade hadn't mentioned it.

"I…it can be bad sometimes, because they…are mean, but I'm happy." Naruto answered hesitantly, glancing to Anko for a moment accidentally. Tsunade however seemed to not notice it, her thoughtful expression turned upon Naruto as she gazed into his blue eyes.

"Do you want to come with me when I leave the village? You don't have to answer straight away, I'll give you a few days alright? In three days where you met me today I'll be there, come and tell me your answer."

With that Tsunade left Naruto and the ghostly Anko.

Both of them seemed to be at a loss for words. Tsunade had offered Naruto a way out of the village. What did it mean for Naruto? Anko knew what it meant in conjunction. Tsunade would make teach Naruto, Anko was sure of that, the price was obvious, she had seen Naruto's 'skill' at poker. She would want him to gamble.

In the end, Anko knew it was Naruto's decision, she would have no input on it, she decided, it was up to Naruto decide what happened. With a single glance to Naruto, she knew that he was stunned with the offer, especially after he had managed to take ¥440,000 from the blond woman.

"The choice is entirely yours Naruto." stated Anko emotionlessly.

In truth nothing would really change. Except that their relationship would become a lot more one way. With Tsunade around as much as she assumed the blond woman would be, Naruto would have little time to speak to her. But the same could be said in a few years for Naruto. She had no doubt that he would want to be a ninja after hearing of what she had done while alive, to be able to make his own stories to tell people.

"Can we go home now?" asked Naruto quietly as he turned his gaze down to the table.

"Of course." Anko said softly, before trying to lighten the mood.

"Collect our winnings Naruto, Tomorrow I'm going to show you where to buy the best thing in the entire world." She teased lightly.

It was enough to bring Naruto out of his stupor; his eyes were quickly alight with enthusiasm as he reached across the table and pooled all the money he had won into a small pile. From within his pocket he withdrew a thin plastic bag and shovelled his winnings into it, before replacing it into his pants pocket, resulting in a severe bulge in the material.

Anko had to bite her lip to stop herself from commenting on what it would look like if the pocket was on the front of his pants. Instead of making a lewd comment, Anko thrust her fist up into he air and yelled out.

"Onwards towards Home!"

Naruto repeated Anko's gesture before beginning to run back to his apartment, wobbling slightly when the weight in his pants became too much and his pants began to sag.

The next day Anko had Naruto treat himself to, as she described it 'Heaven given the form of food' also known as Dango. After the first taste Naruto had been hooked. When they had gotten back to the safety of the apartment Naruto had pleaded and pleaded to only buy dango with the rest of the money, but Anko, despite her Dango-fanatic personality, refused, she reasoned with Naruto that they would need the money for other things. But secretly she envied Naruto, as she herself was unable to sample the food.

The day had rushed by, and Naruto still had not been able to decide on how it was he should go along. Should he stay in Konoha with Anko? Or should both he and Anko take to the road with Tsunade and live a life of travelling and gambling? He had to admit, it didn't sound too bad. The only thing he could see that was bad about it was not being able to talk to Anko when he wanted to. He had seen that with other children their parents were always around and they had to do everything with them.

Would that make Tsunade his mother if he said yes? He didn't know. He couldn't comprehend it. With all conflicting thoughts running through his mind Naruto did the only thing he could do, he decided…then fell asleep.

The morning came too soon for Anko. She was sure she knew Naruto's choice. It was as obvious as the fact that she had just made him a dango addict. Naruto would want to leave the village, and they would travel. It wasn't a bad option after all; the only thing that would suffer would be the time he would be able to talk to her. That to her however, was the worse thing possible, he was the only one who was able to hear her. She had been able to keep sane from the attention Naruto put on her.

A frown appeared on her lips as she thought over…her thoughts. All the reasons either way she had brought down to herself. Did she really assume that Naruto relied on her that much, that without her he would be unable to live his life? It troubled her to think that she was making him as dependant on her as she was on him. With that, she decided on one thing, either way if Naruto chose to stay or leave Konoha she would stick to it, and maybe, just maybe Naruto would not hate her for it.

"Morning sunshine." She whispered softly as Naruto had begun to stir. Unlike the usual mornings, Anko had chosen to sit upon the bed next to Naruto, something that required a bit of concentration to do. It was well worth it, to be the first thing Naruto saw when he woke from his slumber.

Sleeping was one of the things Anko missed doing; it allowed her to detach herself from life. But it seemed ghosts did not need sleep. The most she could get was a good amount of meditation.

"Morning Anko-sama." Naruto said tiredly as he rolled over towards her and nuzzled Anko's side lightly.

A sigh escaped Anko's lips as she recognised the telltale signs of Naruto trying to fall back to sleep. With a gentle rap upon the top of his head, Naruto was wide awake, rubbing the sore spot where Anko had kindly woken him.

"I'm awake." He whined softly as Anko slipped off the bed and beckoned for him to do likewise.

"You've decided right?" Anko asked curiously, she no longer held fear of which way Naruto would choose to go.

Naruto nodded hesitantly, before smiling naively up at Anko. Anko returned the smile after a moment. Naruto didn't notice, but the smile was not of happiness, it was a smile of sorrow.

"Once you get ready we can go tell Tsunade-sama your answer." Anko remarked.

Slower then normally, Naruto began to get ready for the meeting, he had a shower, brushed his hair even though it never worked, got dressed and finally he had breakfast before both he and his Spiritual companion made their way out of the apartment and towards the bar they had met Tsunade at two days prior.

It was a case of Déjà vu to see Tsunade sitting in the exact spot she had been when they had first met. Slowly Naruto made his way forwards to Tsunade and stopped behind her. It seemed Tsunade was not as intoxicated as Naruto had first thought she would be. The moment he stopped she spoke.

"Have you come to a decision, Naruto-kun?" she asked calmly as she swivelled on her stool. A knowing look was apparent on her face as she gazed down at Naruto. It annoyed Anko to no end that Tsunade thought she knew what Naruto would choose. Even **_she_** didn't know what he would choose. And she had been with him for most of his life.

"I-I'm gonna stay." declared Naruto shakily.

It was not the answer Tsunade had been expecting, her mouth instantly fell open as shock hit her, she had been sure that Naruto would have rather come with her then stay in the village. A snort issued from her nose before she nodded to Naruto and turned back to the bar.

"I'm sorry." Naruto whispered softly, before turning away from Tsunade and beginning to walk back to his home. Before Naruto got more then five steps away from the bar, Tsunade called out again.

"If you ever change your mind, talk to the Sandaime, tell him to contact me and I'll come and pick you up." She spoke calmly, before returning to whatever she was doing prior to Naruto showing up.

Neither Naruto nor Anko spoke on the walk back, Naruto for obvious reason, and Anko because she was beginning to feel guilty over her decision, she kept repeating in her mind that it was the right decision. As Anko stepped through the door to Naruto's apartment, she came to a final resolve.

"Naruto-kun, we need to talk." She tried to keep her voice as even as possible.

Naruto turned to Anko and stared curiously up into her eyes.

Anko smiled tenderly as she knelt down in front of Naruto so she was on eye level with the small boy. Gently she reached up to his face and brushed a stray lock of hair from his forehead.

"I'm afraid I have to leave you Naruto-kun." she murmured sadly.

Instantly Naruto's body slammed into hers, almost knocking her backwards.

"No!" he yelled as his arms ensnared their way around Anko's neck. "I don't want you to go!" he whimpered.

Anko wrapped her arms around the little boy's body, holding him gently as she whispered into his ear.

"I know, but I have to." She said carefully.

And had to she did, she had never heard of a child having an imaginary friend who was a ghost before, most children grew out of it, she did not want Naruto to be seen as 'special' in the head. It was one of the things that had cemented the idea.

"I'll do anything, I'll gamble more, I-I'll…Never eat Dango again!" Naruto's mumbling became incoherent as he buried his face upon Anko's shoulder. A frown appeared on Anko's face as she slowly pushed the small boy off her.

"I'll make you a deal." She said in her old cocky voice.

Naruto sniffed lightly as he turned his watery eyes up to stare into hers again.

"W-what do you m-mean?" he hiccuped out lightly.

"When you become strong like me, I'll be back alright?" a superior grin adorned Anko's face. Despite how her personality had abruptly changed, she still felt horrible over what she had to do to the small boy.

"But I don't want you to go." He whispered softly as he turned his gaze to the ground.

Anko looked away from the small boy. She did not want to see him cry. A sigh escaped her lips, the longer she waited the more weak her resolve became. Carefully she wrapped her arms around his body, hugging him close to her as she whispered one final thing into his ear.

"Did I ever tell you I love you?"

With that Anko released the tearful boy and gifted him with a soft smile. Slowly, Anko began to fade away, the outlines of her clothing and hair becoming fainter with every passing moment, until only her eyes remained. And then, they were gone.

Naruto released a wail of sorrow as he collapsed forwards onto his knees, he could no longer feel the cool touch of her arms on him. He knew she was gone. Gone until he became stronger, gone unless he wanted her back.

And want her back, he did.

* * *

**Onwards, towards destiny!**


	2. Memories and Tests

**Now, you see, normally I have an easy time writing, and the first five hundred words of his chapter prove that, but when MS word begins to show how lame it can be, well I get twitchy. Blame Microsoft if this has alot of grammar and spelling errors in it, not me. This was suppose to be finished a day prior but Microsoft Word is so lame it killed my urge to write. **

**This was suppose to be atleast a page longer and contain the Scroll hiest, but neh, it's twelve AM and yeah stupid world. Some questions and things to note.**

**Should this follow the wave arc or would you kind people like me to create a different route, like Alternate path, except make it longer and have a mission. Naruto's team has already been picked and neither Sasuke or Sakura is in it. the key to the team is 'o' as in the members name's end with the sound.**

**The voting poll is on my website, front page. I;m surprised that Female!Gaara got such an astounding number of votes, but Anko has just climbed ahead and is in the lead again. You can vote as many times as you like, Wait no you can't you can continue to vote but only one per chapter.**

**Sorry for MSW being lame, Hopefully the next Alternate Path won't take three days and only two, because school starts soon. :(**

**Jon**

* * *

It was morning, the warm rays of the sun filtered through the thin curtains covering the windows to the east of Naruto's apartment. Had Naruto been asleep, the rays hitting his way should have woken him. But he was not. He laid upon his bed, wide awake and staring at the ceiling. To the normal eye he would appear broken, Seven years prior his eyes were bright and full of life. Seven years exactly they had changed.

Gone was the sparkle of life, and in its place a dull lifeless shine had taken root. The first five years of his life were lost in memory; he could not pinpoint the exact reason that caused him to change. He doubted anyone alive could. All that he could remember was that he needed to get stronger, by any means necessary. As he remained motionless on his bed, his thoughts turned to the first place he had sought strength from.

A woman named Tsunade.

_**Flash back**_

_Naruto slowly made his way through Konoha, oblivious to the world around him, he had only one Goal in mind; to get to the Hokages tower. He had to see the Sandaime. It was the only thing that was on his mind. See the Sandaime. Go with Tsunade. Get Stronger, and then… **she** would come back. And he could be happy again._

_Soon the giant red building grew in his sight, until it took up almost all he could see. Ignoring the feeling of apprehension beginning to rise up in his stomach, Naruto pushed the doors of the tower open. He was instantly greeted with the vision of the Sandaime, talking with a brown haired man._

_Quietly he walked forwards to them until he stood a few feet away. It did not take long for either of the men to take notice of Naruto's quiet presence, but they did not stop their conversation. While he remained silent, Naruto was observing the brown haired man. While his eyes had not shown any malice intentions towards him, he had not shown any like either. The man appeared to be neutral._

"_I'll talk to you later, Asuma." stated the Sandaime as he turned away form the man, and towards Naruto._

"_What can I help you with, Naruto-kun?" he asked pleasantly._

_That was one of the reasons Naruto liked the Sandaime, unlike everyone else he had met, the Sandaime had always been nice to him, unless he did something he was not suppose to do._

"_Tsunade-hime told me…that if I wanted to go with her I had to talk to you and ask you to contact her." Naruto said quietly._

_Although he wanted to get stronger, he did not want to make the Sandaime mad at him with his attempts. At first Naruto thought that he had made the Sandaime angry, he was sporting a look of surprise and something else, something Naruto couldn't recognise._

"_You've met Tsunade?" asked the Sandaime curiously._

_Naruto simply nodded._

"_When? And Where?" asked the Sandaime again as he stared down at the small boy._

"_Four days ago at a bar, after I beat her… she said that if I wanted to I could go with her." Naruto murmured softly._

_He was staring to become uncomfortable, most of the people in the room had stopped what they were doing and were now looking at both him and the Sandaime, Naruto could feel their glares upon the back of his head, it was making him nervous. He wouldn't have cared if they were normal villagers, but they weren't they were ninjas. People trained to kill; they were all like **her**_ _like how he wanted to be._

_The Sandaime had noticed his unease, and the glares that the other occupants were giving him, it seemed. Gently, he placed his hand upon the back of Naruto's head and led him towards the stairs._

"_We shall take this to my office." He said gently._

_As Naruto headed up the stairs towards his office, the Sandaime threw a disappointing look over his shoulder and at the ninja in the room, despite all they tried, they couldn't help but feeling slightly guilty, they had let the Hokage down, he had specifically asked everyone to treat Naruto normally; Glaring at him like they wanted him to die, which they did, was not normal._

_Once up stairs the Sandaime had Naruto sit in the chair opposite his desk, the thought that Tsunade had given Naruto an actual choice to leave the village or not was troubling. Although he loved his once student dearly, he could not turn a blind eye to her habits of drinking and gambling. They had started after her brother died. Which was just another reason he did not want Naruto to go with the blond haired woman; she may have just been trying to replace her brother._

_But he would not deny Naruto the chance to leave the village, if it was a good reason._

"_Naruto-kun, why do you want to go with Tsunade?" The Sandaime asked after a moment of silence._

"_I want to get stronger." stated Naruto clearly._

_That particular answer was not one the Sandaime had been expecting. He sat upon his chair silently as he stared across into the determined eyes of Naruto. He had expected Naruto to state the treatment he had received from almost the tire village. He would have accepted the reason and let Naruto go if truth be told; he had no wish to destroy the Childs life by forcing him to live in a potentially dementing environment._

_Naruto's reason was confusing as well, why would he want to get stronger at such a young age? From what he knew of the young boy's life, no ninja had actively become a part of his life. Was he afraid for his life? The looks from down stairs would have given proof to that thought._

"_Why?" the Sandaime asked carefully._

_Naruto remained silent for a moment, thinking over the single reason he had for wanting to get stronger. If He didn't get stronger **she** would never come back. The quicker he got stronger, the quicker **she** would be back. And he wanted her back more then anything._

"_Because…If I don't get stronger then…" Naruto's eyes got a pained look in them as he trailed off from his answer._

_Thinking back to his young, the Sandaime tried to find a reason he had for wanting to become stronger, and then it hit him, it was obvious._

"_I see, what's the name of the girl you want to impress?" The Sandaime asked amusedly._

_Naruto's eyes widened significantly. Had he let **her** existence slip? He was sure he hadn't. The Sandaime chuckled as he watched the expression on Naruto's face._

"_You shouldn't be surprised Naruto, I like you have met more then my fair share of girls who I wanted to impress when I was younger." The Sandaime informed casually._

_Naruto relaxed immensely. The old man had assumed he had found a girl he liked. He didn't like any of the girls he had met, they weren't like **her** and she was the perfect role model. Although he had once met a girl whose personality was similar, they hadn't gotten along very well, and the girl's mother had slapped him when he had raised his voice slightly after the girl had yelled at him._

_Naruto simply nodded to the Sandaime, relieved at a different reason to get stronger._

"_Well, before you get stronger you have to get smarter, that is how we work in this village. Once you learn to read I'll give you a Scroll which will teach you the basic's of Taijutsu. That is the hand to hand fighting that ninjas do, alright?"_

_Naruto frowned for a moment._

"_But I can already read." stated Naruto confusedly._

_For the second time in less then ten minutes, the Sandaime was gob smacked. But he soon returned to normal, it was likely that Naruto could only understand some written words like most of the other children. Smiling to himself, The Sandaime picked up one of the various books upon his desk, the particular one he chose without looking had an orange cover. Slowly he lifted the book up and held it close as close to Naruto as he could._

"_Read the words you can."_

_Naruto looked confused for a moment, before realizing what the Sandaime had wanted; He was supposed to read the scroll. Leaning forwards, Naruto gripped the scroll with both of his hands and turned it right side up. He cleared his voice loudly before he began._

"_Outside of the broken down mansion night time had fallen. Inside in one of the largest bedroom's Jin and Fujo laid next to each other, they were relieved to find comfort in the other as they remembered what had happened to the Jin's sister when they had tried to defeat the all powerful tentacle demon. Jin smiled as he-"_

_A now blushing Sandaime reached across the table and snatched the orange book out of Naruto's hands, he was quick to open a draw at the bottom of his desk and stuff the orange tomb into the dank and out of sight place. Once again, the Sandaime was at a loss for words. Naruto's ability to read was astounding to him, to his knowledge not even Uchiha Itachi had been able to read so fluently at Naruto's age, and he was being hailed as a Prodigy of the highest level._

_Hesitantly the Sandaimes eyes seeped over his desk in search of a certain scroll. It took him a few moments to find the exact scroll he had been looking for. It was labelled **Chuukyuu Tame** **Koudo Ninpou Nado**, or better known as Intermediate to Advanced Ninja Arts and the like. Carelessly he picked the scroll up and threw it over to Naruto, who fumbled with it for a moment before getting a hold upon then cylinder._

"_Naruto-kun, once you've finished reading that come back and tell me, then I will give you a test." The Sandaime stated formally. Just as Naruto was about to complain the Sandaime continued. "If you can pass the test with full marks, then I will arrange for you to train with one of the Genin teams, alright?"_

_Needless to say Naruto instantly agreed all thoughts of Tsunade gone from his mind._

_**End Flash back**_

A ghost of a smile appeared on Naruto's face as he stared up at the cold white ceiling of his apartment. Needless to say, The Sandaime was shocked when in just two days he had returned and declared that he had finished reading it. Not to long afterwards the Sandaime bombarded him wish countless questions of the book. The information in it had been clear and interesting to Naruto, he had remembered most of the important parts. There had been some points when he had almost failed, but in the end he was able to pass without getting a question wrong. He had never gotten to see Tsunade since then, but it didn't matter he was getting stronger.

The smile devolved into a frown, he couldn't remember the name of the team he had been assigned to train with. They had been condescending to him for the first two years, but after a while he had caught up to them in physical ability. But he did not only value physical strength. It was one thing someone he could not remember taught him early on.

'_Your body may be the strongest in the world, but if you can't think straight it will never be the best.'_

At first he had not truly taken those words top heart, but after finding that the knowledge within the scroll the Hokage had presented him with allowed him early on to keep up with the Genins in training, Knowledge had become something at the same level as Strength. Besides, when the Genin team went on missions he wasn't allowed to go along, what else could he do? After a while The Sandaime had offered him a place in the Ninja Academy's beginner class.

How could he not accept it? More Knowledge meant that he would be stronger. Unfortunately, the Academy failed to meet his expectations.

_**Flash Back**_

_A perpetually smile was upon Naruto's face as he waited patiently in the front row of the class room. Unlike the rest of the class who were talking animatedly, Naruto remained silent. But on the inside he was bursting with joy. The Ninja Academy was where people could become proper ninja, if he could become a proper ninja that would mean he would be stronger. _

_The door slid open and in walked the teacher, Naruto took a small amount of time to memorise the man's looks. It didn't take even a moment, the only things he had to remember was that his Teacher had a Pony tail and a scar across his nose._

_Naruto remained obediently silent as he watched the teacher walk to the front of the room from the door. For a moment the teacher glanced towards him, Naruto had straightened up even further; he had wanted to give the best impression he could. Sadly it was not to be had, The Teacher's eyes were not friendly like he had hoped, they were almost blank, like he was hiding his emotion._

_Naruto internally sulked, the teacher didn't like him, he could tell, that was the only reason people tried to hide their emotions from him, the teacher of the Genin team had done it as well for the first year, but after that he had warmed up slightly, Naruto could see the pride in his eyes when he matched the teams actual abilities. _

_Naruto's resolve however remained the same, he **needed** to get stronger, and if he had to endure hate then he would. What he hadn't counted on, was what the teacher, who identified himself as Umino Iruka after he called out the roll, would teach them things he had already known._

_As the minutes ticked by, Naruto's mind had begun to slip from attention. He was made aware of the fact when a vicious crack sounded next to his head. In an instant he had rolled from his chair and was in a basic Taijutsu stance, his eyes scanning the room for any sign of threat. Once his eyes landed on the teacher's form, which was next to where he had been sitting, he relaxed._

"_Uzumaki, since you seem to know so much about being a ninja, why don't you tell the class what Chakra is?" although he sounded threatening, Naruto could not help but notice that he, like the rest of the class was a bit wary of him. He put it down quickly to his reaction to the loud sound._

"_The Corporeal energy dubbed Chakra by humans is made up of two ethereal energies. The two energies are classified as 'Chi' and 'Ki' Chi refers to the energy in the body of every living organism. Ki however refers to the spiritual or mental, if you will, energy collected through experience." Naruto recited as if out of a book._

_The class was silent, even the teacher seemed to be unnerved by his display of knowledge. _

"_Ah-Thank you Uzumaki-san for your information." said Iruka after a moment before he turned back to the class and gave simplified version to the rest of the students._

_Iruka ignored Naruto for the rest of the class, choosing to focus on a boy with a tiny white dog instead. He had memorised the boy's name by the end of the class, Kiba was his name. As Naruto prepared to leave the classroom the teacher called out to him._

"_Uzumaki, could you stay behind please?" Iruka said emotionlessly._

_Naruto stood in front of the classroom silently as the students continued to rush out. In a matter of moments he and Iruka were the last two left in the class room._

"_That description you gave, it was word for word out of the **Chuukyuu Tame** **Koudo Ninpou Nado** how did you get that book, and more importantly, how are you able to read it? It should be beyond the comprehension skills of someone as young as you."_

_Naruto smiled at the unintended praise._

"_I got it from The Hokage. It isn't that hard to read." stated Naruto confusedly, couldn't everyone read easily?_

"_Why did he give you that book to read?" Iruka pressed on, he was shocked, but he was trying his best not to show it, he had expected when Naruto had fallen asleep that the boy was just here because it would be easier to keep an eye on him. He had not thought that the Hokage would consider letting something like **it** be taught._

"_Because I told him I wanted to get stronger." responded Naruto after a moment._

_The unexpected answer broke through Iruka's neutral façade. **It **wanted to get stronger? Shouldn't that sort of thing be discouraged? He wondered. Iruka inwardly frowned. On the outside he simply seemed to be stunned._

"_I see." stated Iruka, although it was obvious that he didn't. It became even more obvious as another question parted his lips._

"_And why do you want to become stronger?"_

_Naruto stared blankly into Iruka's eyes, why did everyone want to know why he wanted to get stronger? Even He wanted to know why he wanted to get stronger, but the reason escaped him. He just needed to get stronger._

"_I want to get stronger…because." stated Naruto lamely._

_But it seemed Iruka would not let him off so easily. Quietly he picked up his pen and pulled out a sheet of paper from one of the drawer's in his desk. Naruto remained silent as he watched Iruka write away at the little slip of paper. After a few minutes Iruka had finished writing and had folded the piece of paper up._

"_Naruto-san, I'd like you to do me a favour, there is a man about three classrooms down, on the front of his door it says 'Counsellor' please take this note to him and do what he tells you to, alright?" said Iruka as he held out the slip of paper for Naruto to take._

_Silently Naruto took the paper from his new teacher and began to walk towards the door. Just as he was about to pass through, Naruto stopped. For a moment he hesitated, but soon after he relaxed and turned around. He bowed down slightly to Iruka, before turning back to the door and walking out and beginning the search for the 'Counsellors' room._

_It didn't take to long, like Iruka had said it was only a few doors down, sadly Naruto went the wrong way the first time and had to back track. Hesitantly Naruto brought his hand up to the door and rapped upon it three times. After a few seconds, the door slid open and Naruto was greeted with the sight of the School counsellor._

_His first impression was of that of a kind woman, a light smile adorned her face as she gazed down at him. He couldn't really place the feeling he received when he looks at her, he remembered it from years before; Acceptance was the closest thing he could relate it to. A moment later Naruto reminded himself; they were a counsellor, they were supposed to seem accepting, so they could dissect your mind. Naruto shuddered slightly at the mental, picture. If he ever found out who had 'taught' him so well he would be in their eternal debt._

"_How may I help you, Naruto-kun?" she asked warmly._

_Naruto was put on guard straight away; few people had ever called him Naruto-'kun'. He had never met the woman before, how did she know his name?_

_As if sensing Naruto's thoughts she spoke again._

"_You shouldn't be surprised that I know your name, When you were enrolled I received a file on you, as well as all the other students." She explained lightly before stepping back and motioning towards a bed-like chair near the back of the room._

_Naruto slowly moved inside the room until he stood in the middle, quickly he glanced around the room to take in his surroundings, he was surprised by what he saw, the room was almost bare except for a few flowers and a comfortable looking chair beside the lounge as Naruto decided to refer to it._

"_I prefer to keep my working space clean, as I always say, If you have a clean room you have a clean mind." The woman explained as she walked past Naruto to the end of the room._

"_Please sit down." She said as she motioned towards the lounge._

_Naruto blinked stupefied before shaking his head._

"_I just have to deliver this note." stated Naruto as he held the note up in his hand._

_A frown appeared on the woman's face before she nodded lightly and held her hand out. Casually Naruto walked forwards and placed the note in the woman's hand. What he hadn't expected was for something else to happen._

_The moment his arms were in reach, she grasped hold of Naruto's wrists and slid her feet out and under his, with strength he seriously doubted the woman possessed she managed to drop him on his back upon the lounge. Naruto remained dazed for a few moments before trying to sit up._

"_You're not going anywhere Naruto-kun. According to your teacher we need to have a little talk."_

_**End Flash back**_

Naruto snorted lightly as he slid his feet off his bed. 'Little' didn't quite cover it; he had been required to go back every day since then. He couldn't deny the woman was bad company though, unless he continuously refused to answer a question.

He had found out in the first lesson that the woman's name was Nara Yoshino and that she was the mother of one of his classmates. According to her having an obsession with getting stronger was unhealthy, and even more so if he was not able to alliterate what was pushed him towards it. Of course their talking sessions had not only been about that. Yoshino had systematically dug up ever single detail he could remember his entire life.

At times he couldn't remember some things, but always in the nick of time a voice reminded him, and saved him from Yoshino's temper. She at first seemed like a kind woman, but Naruto could attest to her vicious temper. He had thought she would stop being so…violent when he answered as best he could, while she did calm down it wasn't a lasting measure.

Yoshino had once asked how he got along with the other students; she hadn't gotten a reply she liked. And Because of that he had been invited to her house for dinner one night. Needless to say he was beyond surprised. It would have been bad form to decline the offer, Naruto shuddered to think of how angry she may have gotten if he had refused. By demand of Yoshino, both he and Shikamaru had become secondary best friends; Shikamaru's first best friend would always be Chouji in Naruto's eyes.

Naruto sighed as he slipped off his bed and onto the cold wooden floor. That brought up the thought of a certain self-proclaimed avenger. Uchiha Sasuke, one of the only people Naruto could relate to about his goals. Sasuke had Naruto's envy, for one reason.

Sasuke knew why he wanted to get stronger. In an off chance moment of male bonding, Sasuke confided his reason for wanting to get stronger. Neither had mentioned the incident since, but it was obvious the way they both remembered it. They could not be classified as friends. They were too different, Sasuke was if possible more obsessed then he was. It brought a smile to his face to think that while Sasuke had been publicly classified as a Prodigy and he was labelled as an up-start he could still own Sasuke in a game of tactics.

Naruto slapped his cheeks lightly as he tried to get his mind off the past, he was due at class in less then an hour, and he still had to get dressed, eat breakfast, have a shower, not in that order, but he still had to do them all. A sigh escaped Naruto's lips as he headed towards the shower; this would be a day to remember.

The day he moved on from the pathetic every day dull life of an Academy student to a Genin; a Ninja. A low rank ninja yes, but that would be changing as soon as possible, he was already above Genin skill has proven by his ability to keep up with the squad the Hokage had placed him with, and they were Chuunin. There was no doubting his strength.

A little over an hour later and Naruto was sitting in the third row of the Classroom of the teacher Iruka.

Iruka was another thing that had changed over the years. At seeing Naruto's earnest effort to get strong, and no ill will towards any other Konoha citizen his first impression was wiped clean. Naruto was just an ignored prodigy in his eyes. The only thing that remotely connected him to the tragedy of twelve years ago was the marks upon his cheeks.

"Good morning Naruto-kun!" shouted a voice from the door.

Naruto tensed as a pair of arms ensnared around his side and a head of pink hair bounced into his view. He really wished he had ignored the rants of chivalrous behaviour in the past. His morals dictated that he didn't shove the girl clinging to him off and degrade her with words.

"Sakura-san, can you please remove your arms from me?" Naruto asked quietly, hoping to end the situation quickly without any tears on Sakura's part.

A form of luck was on his side; Sakura slowly detached herself from him and moved to a comfortable distance; that being at least a centimetre away. Sometimes, Naruto really hated his morals. He wished he could be more like Sasuke- In the way that he was able to push off any girls that clang to him. But then he reminded himself that half the class thought Sasuke swung a different way and retracted the thought of being more like Sasuke.

Fate had decreed that their teacher; Iruka was to walk in at that exact moment, and he did; much to Naruto's relief.

"I won't bother with the roll, the test room is two doors down to the right, I expect you all to behave yourself whilst I am not in the room. After a test is finished the teste will return to the room and call the next person, is that clear?"

Iruka snapped the last part out as the attention of some of the students waned. A chorus of 'yes sir' soon followed. Iruka nodded in satisfaction before looking down to the rooster and calling the first name upon the top.

"Aburame, Shino."

The time between the beginning of the class and his examination seemed to past by quickly, perhaps it was because he was selectively ignoring Sakura who was talking animatedly beside him He was surprised when after half an hour the girl was still talking. He would have given anything to have Yamanaka Ino come and take the girl away, but alas, while the two had once been friends their obsessions upon both him and Sasuke had drove them apart, much to his ire.

"And then I told her that you'd look really good in the clothing and that I'd try and get you around to buy it!" exclaimed Sakura.

Sadly for Naruto once Sakura had passed her test she chose to sit next to him and continue to talk, he had just begun listening to see if she was going to stop any time in the near future. Glancing down to his chest Naruto looked over his clothing. He couldn't see anything wrong with them. He had worn the same style for the past seven years. Naruto inwardly frowned; He liked his clothing style. It was the one thing he had always kept with him and remembered.

"I like my clothing style." said Naruto coldly.

Sakura froze at the lack of anything remotely considered friendly in Naruto's voice. She _knew_ he liked his clothing, but that didn't mean she had to like it, it didn't mean she couldn't try to change him. A frown appeared on her face for a moment before it disappeared and she began to talk about clothing again; putting her one step closer to Naruto's hate list.

"Uzumaki Naruto." stated an emotionless voice form the front of the room. Naruto's eyes snapped towards the door, as he had expected, Sasuke was standing under the frame and was holding a piece of metal wrapped in cloth in his hand. Naruto flashed him a small smile as he stood up. A quick glance to his sides told him that he was boxed in between Sakura and a wall.

With a gentle kick to the ground, Naruto leaped over the three desks in front of him and landed softly near the door. Almost unnoticeably he threw a quick glance over his shoulder to see who was left in the room; unsurprisingly it was only Yamanaka Ino. She was an easy person to get along with if you ignored her bossy attitude. Which Naruto had to be able to do, being friends with Shikamaru meant that much in the least.

It was disturbing to find out that Shikamaru's, Chouji's and Ino's fathers had been best friends. It was more disturbing when they tried to force the three of them to be friends. It was horrifying when Naruto was forced along with Shikamaru because of Yoshino.

Silently Naruto walked past Sasuke and in the silence he caught a small whisper.

"_Good luck."_

It caused Naruto to smile lightly as he continued a few doors down to the room Iruka had mentioned 'two doors down to the right.' The first thing Naruto noticed about eh room was that it was barren except for a table in the front littered with Forehead protectors. Behind it Iruka was sitting next to a blue haired man; Mizuki. Mizuki had been one of the few to accept Naruto with opened arms at first sight, instead of holding him at arms length, he trusted the man explicated, he was just under the Hokage in Naruto's book.

Before Iruka began to speak, Mizuki gifted Naruto with a warm smile. Which Naruto returned with a smaller version.

"Alright Naruto, please create three Bunshins for us." asked Iruka tiredly.

Naruto stared bemusedly at Iruka for a second, he had no idea how watching a bunch of twelve year olds could tire someone out, perhaps it was just his mind? He may have been mentally exhausted, Naruto reasoned.

Thoughtlessly Naruto brought his hand up into a half-ram seal.

"**_Bunshin no jutsu_**." stated Naruto calmly.

As the final syllable left his lips three blasts of smoke signalled the creation of three Bunshins. As the smoke cleared, neither Iruka or Mizuki was surprised to find three perfect replications of Naruto standing in the exact same casual stance behind him they were exact, right down to the position of his spiky hair.

Both Iruka and Mizuki smiled as Naruto stepped forwards to the desk and took his head band.

"In three day's there will be a meeting for the Academy students who graduated, be there before Nine o'clock alright, Naruto-kun?" said Iruka through a yawn.

Naruto nodded silently, gifting both of the teacher's with a satisfied smile before turning to the door and beginning to walk out. As Naruto made his way back to Iruka's classroom his thoughts turned to the truth that he was now a Genin. He was sorely tempted to not go back to the classroom to inform Ino of it being her turn and instead seek out the squad he had practiced with for the past few years.

He was sure they'd be thrilled to find out that he was a ninja like them now. Although it annoyed him to no end that they were Chuunin, he'd have to wait until a Chuunin exam to reach their rank. He couldn't wait to see if it were possible to surface them. If they became Jounin before then it would mean he'd have to go one step further.

The amusing idea's kept coming as Naruto entered Iruka's classroom, his eyes landed upon the form of Yamanaka Ino who was laying her head down upon one of the front desks. A sigh escaped his lips as he contemplated leaving her where she was. It did not take long for him to dismiss the thought; She would castrate him if she found out he had stopped her from becoming a Genin.

Carefully, Naruto pressed his hand down against Ino's shoulder and shook her gently. Even if it was to wake her for the Genin test, she'd still react violently because he interrupted her 'beauty' sleep. An incoherent mumble burst from Ino's lips as she began to awake. It was Naruto's que to back off. He had remembered last time when he had lost a game of Shougi with Shikamaru and had to wake Ino up; His cheek still stung.

Just as predicted, Ino lashed out violently with her fists to where he would have been had he not moved backwards. Ino's eyelids were still drippy, at this rate she would be to sleepy to take the test. Taking hold of his brain for a moment, Naruto reasoned that the easiest way to make Ino do something was to play upon one of her obsessions, the only obsession she had which would get her to the room on time was Sasuke.

"Ino-san, Sasuke is in the test room waiting for you." Naruto said casually.

That was all she needed, in a flash of purple and pale blond Ino sat up straight and kicked her chair out from underneath her. Naruto stepped backwards just in time to allow her to run to the dor without getting hit. A sigh escaped his lips. He'd get punched later for lying to her, but she had a chance to pass the test, which meant there was a chance she'd forget about it and just be happy.

While they need not return to the classroom after their tests, they were still required to remain on the school grounds. Most of the playground would be barren, except for a few spots where the collective groups of the graduating class would sit and talk about anything that came to mind.

There were three people that didn't do that; Uchiha Sasuke, Aburame Shino and himself. The reasons were quite obvious for himself and Sasuke. Shino on the other hand was an enigma. At first he had assumed that like himself, Shino had wanted to be strong, but that didn't add up. The boy seemed to be devoid of basic human emotion. Something even he, himself was unable to do, not that he ever wanted to, mind you.

Naruto let a sigh escape his lips as he lowered his form onto the single tree swing in the entire Academy. He had early on claimed the swing as his own. He enjoyed the freedom he felt when the earth below him was not what he relied on. Idly he wondered if it would be possible to fly. People were able to breathe fire; manipulate the water's into form, why wouldn't it be possible to fly? He made a quick mental note in his mind.

'_Mental note #192; Learn how to fly.'_

A soft chuckle escaped his lips as he thought of what he would be able to do if the ability to fly became second nature to him. He'd be able to rein terror down upon the people who were stuck on the ground. Not to mention it would be really cool.

Time seemed to escape Naruto as his mind sifted over the various ways he could make flying possible. Chakra, it seemed was the miracle, with it Naruto's mind continued to churn out possibilities, although most of them met their end relatively quickly, few of them remained stored away near the mental note; Waiting for further though at a later occasion.

A chatter of noise in front of him alerted Naruto to the end of the school day. He watched in detached curiosity as the children who graduated received smiles and praise from their parents, while those who failed were given the sympathies and encouragement of their siblings. Naruto felt a faint trace of something stir in his heart; Longing. Just as he was about to get up and leave Naruto felt a soft tug upon the swings robe binds.

Mizuki stood beside him, smiling down kindly at him, Naruto returned the smile slightly, he really wasn't in the mood to smile.

"Naruto-kun, would you like to go and get something to eat, perhaps…ramen?" Mizuki said, although as he approached the word Ramen he got a discontent frown upon his face. Naruto knew why, Mizuki's least favourite food was ramen, it made it mean extra if he was willing to eat ramen.

Yoshino smiled down at Shikamaru lightly, the pride could be seen in her eyes as she watched her son and husband interact. For a moment she wondered where her most frequent patient was, she was more then certain the blond haired boy had passed. No matter where the dark haired woman looked, she could not find the boy. Her eyes landed lastly on a gently rocking swing, where he had informed her he had liked to sit during class breaks; He wasn't there. A frown appeared for a moment before disappearing. She reasoned that Naruto would want to be alone, or train as he did most days.

A fair distance away a blue haired man sat next to a blond haired kid. He was looking down at his noodles disgustedly. The blond haired boy next to him, Naruto however was the exact opposite; he was savouring the noodles that were being drawn up into his mouth.

"Naruto-kun," began Mizuki as he looked sideways at Naruto, "You know what happens next don't you?"

Naruto froze for a second, before nodding guiltily; he knew what Mizuki was talking about. It had said in the _**Chuukyuu Tame** **Koudo Ninpou Nado **_that the Genin exam was only a preface to becoming a Genin. The real exam however was not spoken of in the text.

"Hokage-sama asked me to give you your test personality." Said Mizuki casually as he placed the exact amount of money needed for both his and Naruto's meal upon the counter. Naruto took that as his que to finish, and finish he did, in a single go he drained the rest of his bowl.

As Mizuki slipped off his stool, Naruto did the same, the young boy obediently waiting for Mizuki's direction. He was soon given it as Mizuki began to walk away from the Ramen stand. Naruto began to get worried as Mizuki remained silent, it was only once he realised that the Chuunin had lead him to his house did he understand.

"Your test, if you choose to accept it, Is to retrieve an object from the Hokages office." With that Mizuki reached into his right pocket and withdrew a small photo. Casually he flicked it towards Naruto.

Naruto snatched the photo out of the air quickly and locked his eyes upon the object depicted in it, memorising every detail of it. After a few moments of silence Naruto nodded and Mizuki held his hand out, to which Naruto handed the photo back to Mizuki.

"Once you have retrieved the scroll you are required to meet the supervisor, in this case me at this location." With that Mizuki handed Naruto a small map.

Upon the map a few distinguishing land marks were plotted, on the bottom of the map there was a length key showing how many millimetres equalled to how many kilometres. Near the right hand corner of the map a small x marked the spot where he needed to meet Mizuki. A second nod followed and Mizuki took the miniature map back off Naruto.

"You will be required to meet at the area marked on the map by the stroke of midnight; if you fail to reach the area by that time then you will have failed this test." Mizuki finished sadly as he turns his back on Naruto.

"You're allowed to begin the test whenever you see fit, but I'd suggest you pass as soon as possible." Was the last thing Mizuki said before he began to walk away, leaving a determined Naruto behind upon his door steps.

Naruto stared at the back of Mizuki's head as he walked off. As much as he trusted the older man, there was a voice whispering to him the man couldn't be trusted, the voice had been with him as long as he could remember, only giving him advice at dire times of need. He'd taken to calling it his conscience, weirdly enough.

'_He's lying.'_ It whispered.

Had it not been something he thought of as part of himself he'd have disregarded it. Mizuki had always been there for him. Mizuki hadn't lied to him at all had he? It was written in _**Chuukyuu Tame** **Koudo Ninpou Nado **_that after the initial test there was another to determine if the graduated Genins had to the ability to become real ninja. In the end, Naruto decided that it didn't matter either way, if it was a trap then the Hokage would stop him and he'd be able to explain, and if it was a real test...Then he'd see how it went.

There was no sense in waiting, Naruto reasoned. The quicker he got the objective completed the quicker he could relax and bask in the afterglow of success. And if he failed, he'd have more time to retry.

* * *

**Sleeping time. On another note, 30 reviews for a single chapter? Woah, and it's the first one.**


	3. Trials and Truths

**This is basically one thousand and two hudnred words below the limit i ahd set for this stories chapter's. But I wanted to end it here, it seemed to be so perfect. So Far Anko is ahead in the polls and is the outright winner. But I'm keeping a spot open for the by-side pairing. I just finished, so now I'm posting. any mistakes please point out and if can be bothered i'll correct the changes.**

* * *

Slowly, darkness had descended over Konoha and blanked the village. In the darkness many things occurred, and for a village full of ninjas, the majority as unwelcomed for them. Surprises lurked in the darkness, waiting to strike and take away apart the deceitful calm. High above Konoha, the serene atmosphere was about to be dealt a blow. 

It would have meant little to a single entity if not along with the darkness came clouds. A normal cloud would have been fine, perfect even, it would have blocked out the light. But Instead; they were storm clouds. A clash of thunder overhead forced Naruto to hold back a wince. For along with Thunder came lightning soon after.

Naruto grimaced as from above him the white flash of light illuminated the world for a moment before fading away into the darkness. As Naruto gazed forth at the dark red Hokage tower his mind was racing, devising ways the shift in weather could be used to his advantage or against.

'_The extra light gives watchers a chance to see me. Yet at the same time it allows them a pause in thought. I myself would wonder if the light was playing tricks on my eyes.'_

Naruto's eyes surveyed the surrounding area of the building. There was basically no one there at all. It seems all of Konoha had gone to bed early. But Naruto knew better then to take things at face value. He remained still, high up above the village upon the tip of the Hokage monument, waiting for a single sign of life from the tower.

And within the aftermath of the next flash of lighting it came. From the Old mans office, itself a small light began to flicker into life. From his position and the rain Naruto was hard pressed to make out any more then that without taking a closer look, and take a closer look he did. Without hesitation Naruto began to slide down the edge of the Nidaime's face, inwardly apologising for desecrating the dead Hokages face.

As Naruto reached the Nidaime's forehead protector he reached into his weapons pouch and took hold of three pieces of equipment, Two Kunai and a five meter length of wire. Naruto's hand were instantly put to work, threading the Wire's ends through both Kunai. Without pausing Naruto launched himself up off the Hokage Monument and into the air above Konoha. Although on the outside Naruto seemed to have gone through little to no change, on the inside his heart was pounding away within his chest. A single wrong move and not only would he fail the test, he would also break more then a few bones.

As Naruto's body began to slow down and change vertical direction he gripped both of the Kunai within his right hand. With a thrust of his arm and a flick of his wrist Naruto sent both Kunai slicing through the air towards two separate buildings. A Smile blossomed on Naruto's face as the wire began taut between the two weapons now firmly entrenched in the wood of the buildings.

His smile quickly vanished as his body descended upon the thin, almost invisible wire. The rain was not helping at all. Even on a normal day he had trouble attempting to pull it off, yet at night, with rain it was going to be too close to call. Naruto's body spiralled forwards a single time before the soles of his sandals made contact with the wire. Naruto crouched down quickly as his weight caused the wire to sag. A moment later Naruto's legs unbuckled as the wire as a spring would have, sent the amount of force acted upon it right back to the source.

Naruto was sent back up into the air, albeit to a different direction, specifically the Top of the Hokages tower. Naruto's breath hitched in his throat as his body flipped backwards gracefully through the air. No matter how manage times he had attempted and succeeded with the feat, flipping backwards was still a manoeuvre he wasn't comfortable with. As The top of the Hokage tower rose up to meet him Naruto braced for impact.

He wasn't disappointed; his feet skidded along the walk way scaling the Hokages tower, if not for a timely grab for the tail he would have continued to slide. Naruto released the breath he had been holding, and resisted the urge to cheer out loud for the success of the first part. Naruto's joy did not last long, soon enough a soft creek of wood moving caught his attention and saw him jump up off the pathway and up on to the literal top of the tower.

It wasn't long before the white and red clad Sandaime made his way out of the tower's entrance and slowly down the pathway to the lower chambers. Once out of sight, Naruto wasted no time as he slipped from his perch above the door and landed against the hardwood pathway. A small smile formed upon Naruto's lips as he slowly gripped the side of the door and edged it open.

The occasional flash of lightning illuminated the inside of the office, revealing piles upon piles of scrolls littering the sides of the office. Most, Naruto noticed did not even warrant his attention, such titled scrolls as. "Kumogakure Relations" and "Past Casualties" Naruto felt slightly ashamed that he did not think the people who had died did not matter. He quickly put the thought to the back of his mind and abandoned it as his eyes landed on more promising titles such as; "_An Index of Elemental techniques."_ And _"Chakra; Stealth and Subtlety." _

Naruto couldn't help himself, they just were screaming to him to be taken. Without hesitation Naruto reached over to the scrolls and took hold of them both, before placing them on the ground before him perfectly aligned with both themselves and his body.

His hands quickly flashed through a set of five seals before finishing upon a **Ram** seal. _'**Sukuro-ru Shippu**.' _Naruto thought the moment that the final seal had been passed through. Quickly he reached out and placed both of his hands equally upon both scrolls. A Bloom of smoke erupted from both of the scrolls as the technique fell to completion. Under Naruto's hands two scroll, approximately one tenth the size of the originals laid in the same positions as they had prior.

A fond smile appeared upon Naruto's lips as his mind turned to the events of the past; specifically one month after he had been given the copy of _**Chuukyuu Tame** **Koudo Ninpou Nado **_by the Hokage.

_**Flash Back**_

_A Grimace appeared on Naruto's face as his legs shook under the weight of the scroll in his arms. The object in question was twice as thick and tall as he was. It was a miracle that eh was even able to budge the object, let alone move it._

"_What are you trying to do?" asked a lazy voice from in front of him._

_Naruto stopped in his attempt to lift the scroll up and leaned to his left, allowing him to glance around the scroll to the person who had addressed him. A few meters away a single eye stared down at him. Shyly Naruto smiled up at the man._

"_I…need to get this home." answered Naruto sulkily as he took a quick chance to look over the adult in front of him. The first thing he noticed was that the man was a ninja and his headband was tilted and covered his left eye. The second thing Naruto noticed was his abnormally…puffy hair, the third and final major thing he noticed was that the man had a mask covering the bottom half of his face._

"_Well, around your age I used to find carrying big scrolls around was a big hassle. My Sensei noticed this quite quickly and showed me something that made carrying scrolls around a lot easier, do you want me to show you, Naruto-kun?" asked the grey haired man as his visible eye took on a 'smile' quality to it._

_Naruto's eyes widened at the offer, he had not expected anyone to offer him any help carrying it, much less teach him a ninja ability! With a large goofy smile Naruto nodded his consent. Slowly the masked man reached down and grasped the top of the scroll before reached out with his other hand to Naruto._

_Without thinking about it for a moment Naruto reached out for the hand and grasped it as best he could._

_**End Flash back**_

The technique he had been taught was a very handy one indeed, the man who he had not met since had taught him an ability dubbed **_Sukuro-ru Shippu_** Also known as Scroll Compress. It was ingenious in Naruto's eyes. In the village people had come to the conclusion that bigger scrolls were always better. In terms of the amount of information they could carry it was quite true, but for transportation they sucked. Luckily someone had devised a way around it.

Quickly Naruto slipped his fingers beneath the scrolls and picked them up off the floor before dropping them into his weapons pouch. Slowly Naruto straightened up and scanned the scrolls all over the office in search of the exact same one that Mizuki had shown him a picture of.

Naruto's left eye twitched as frustration began to mount.

'_Of course it couldn't be in an obvious place. It is probably under all the scrolls.' _thought Naruto bitterly.

Just as he was about to lose his patience and ignite the entire collection of wayward scrolls he heard a whisper. Had he been anyone else he would have freaked out, but the whisper was not uncommon, he had heard it when he had talked to Mizuki recently, and every other time he was given a hard choice to make. It was coming with greater frequency than ever before Naruto realised, and it excited him.

'_Look above the door.'_ It whispered to him.

At first Naruto was inclined to ignore it for the first time ever. It was unthinkable that a test object would be so easily accessible. Having nothing to lose Naruto shrugged lightly and turned around to face the door. A single glance above the door was all Naruto needed to conclude his thought. He summed it up in a single sentence.

"Well I'll be a damned." He whispered to himself more then anyone.

His face morphed into a light scowl as inside his mind he heard an echo of laughter. He really was insane, he reasoned. How many other people heard voices inside their own head, and were laughed at by them? Naruto mentally slapped himself out of his stupor. He _still_ had to take the scroll to Mizuki.

Naruto licked his lips as he formulated a way to get the scroll down from it's high spot above the door, suddenly it clicked. Casually Naruto walked over to the door and paused for a few moments before glancing up at the scroll.

In a split second Naruto's fist was indented within the wall surrounding the door. It had been an average punch but it had accomplished it's job. The Scroll was just tipping over the edge of the Doors frame. And then it fell.

Within a moment Naruto's hands lashed out in front of his body and held strong as the sizable scroll dropped and descended onto him. A Sly grin quickly took place upon his lips as without a single moment to waste he slipped out of the door…Only to stop and move back inside the room and look around, before finding exactly what he needed.

Quickly Naruto raced over to the side of the room and grasped hold of a small patch of white sticking out from under a pile of scrolls. Without a second glance Naruto yanked it out from underneath and wrapped the scroll in it's relatively safe folds. Naruto winced lightly as a loud crashed accompanied the scrolls crash to the ground and probably alerted more then a few people to the occurrence.

Naruto without a further thought lunged out of the door and snapped it closed, smiling wickedly to himself as he jumped from the Hokages tower to the smaller buildings and made his way out of Konoha and into the surrounding forest, in search of the 'End Location.'

A small distance away in the relative secrecy of the shadows a silver haired Chuunin stared out at Naruto as he began to make his way out of the village and into the forest. A devious smirk slowly appeared on his lips as he slipped out from the shadows and returned to his quarters. It would be much easier to complete his quest if he was not one to be suspected by the rest of Konoha.

After all, it _was_ the demon brat. No one would suspect him next to the blonde fool.

* * *

A small smile appeared on Naruto's face as he finally broke through into a clearing after seemingly endless rows of trees. The sight that greeted him was a welcomed one; The site of a small wooden shack. An exact replica of the one Mizuki had shown him upon the 'Test' objects.

A glance up to the canopy of the trees brought a smile to Naruto's face; there was little to no chance of the scroll being ruined to damaged in anyway, the branches and leafs over head stopped the rain from falling directly down into the clearing. Instead it seemed the water followed the branched away, down to their trunks and seeped down to the roots down the bark.

With a final step Naruto stopped in the middle of the clearing and dropped the cloth covered scroll upon the ground. Slowly his breath changed from the slightly quickened pace to a slightly less strenuous pace. With that Naruto allowed his body to fall backwards and hit the soft ground. He laid back and glanced to the cloth covered scroll. Something in the back of his mind was nagging him.

It wasn't the same feeling he had prior. No it was something else. It was the same feeling, the same impulse that lead him to get stronger. The voiceless feeling deep inside that directed him towards what he wanted.

Naruto paused in his action and thought about the scroll for a few moments. It _had_ been separate from the other scrolls. It very well could just be the Hokages grocery list. But Naruto highly doubted it. The sheer size oft eh scroll spoke to what it truly contained. Only Technique scrolls had been the same size in his previous exploits. It was either a Technique scroll, or the Hokage was over compensating, Naruto finalised in his head. Without hesitating Naruto reached over to the cloth bundle and gripped the slightly browned white material.

In a single tug Naruto attempted to pull the entire package towards him, but failed, instead the cloth unfolded lightly and allowed the scroll to roll out onto the grass and dirt. Naruto's eyes widened lightly as the scroll made contact with the unclean ground. With a single twist of his body Naruto brought himself onto his knees and crawled over to the scroll.

Quickly he pulled the large object into his lap and tore off the seal which kept the scroll from unravelling. The moment Naruto's eyes landed upon the first piece of information kept within the scroll his eyebrows rose a couple of inches. Soon afterwards a low pitched whistle came from his lips.

"_Well I'll be damned…_" he whispered softly to himself.

Soon a sly smirk formed upon his lips as he set his mind to 'Scholar' mode. A mind set usually reserved for the class room. A single read through of the first technique saw Naruto snort at the simplicity. The only thing he could see hard about the technique was the Chakra needed for it and the control needed to keep the amount set and perfect.

Naruto could easily guess at the problems that would arise from easy lack of Chakra or lack of control. Not enough Chakra and you'd be literally wasted by your own technique. It would eat away at your Chakra, and if it was at a fatal level it was bye bye world. The same problem arose from lack of control. The Chakra could become unevenly split between the clones and the original. Making him weaker then duplicates.

'_Kage Bunshin no jutsu.'_ Thought Naruto as he stared down at the depiction of the single and only seal which was needed to activate the technique.

Gently Naruto placed the scroll upon the folds of white material and set both of his index fingers into a cross like shape. Slowly through the seal he directed the flow of Chakra before releasing it at the same moment as clearly stating the name of the technique.

"**_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_**."

Naruto remained still as the land surrounding his body was set into darkness by a gigantic bloom of smoke. Instead of paying attention to the outward results of the technique, Naruto looked inside his own body and felt for his Chakra levels. He was surprised to see that they were only slightly depleted. A quick glance around him explained why it was.

A Single clone sat directly in front of him, motionless. Sat an exact replica of himself, the only difference was a look of pure concentration on the clones face as he stared directly back into the original Naruto's eyes.

"You messed up." It stated clearly before smirking.

Naruto snorted lightly and released the thin hold he had upon the techniques continued existence. The clone smiled before it imploded in a similar blast of smoke to which it came into the world. Quickly Naruto reached down and grasped the edges of the scroll, tenderly he brought it back into his viewing range and poured over the select set of text which was devoted to the skill. He was quite annoyed to see that he had done everything perfectly and the only deduction that he could make was that he had to practice it.

Naruto's eyes flicked across the scroll quickly, sadly they came to land upon such techniques as 'Kage Shuriken no Jutsu.' A quick glance to the instructions told Naruto that the technique was basically the same as Kage Bunshin no Justu, the only difference was the subject of the technique. Much in the same way that henge was preformed upon other people. Instead of reading every single detail of the techniques that followed, Naruto simply skimmed past the techniques he'd never use straight to half way through the scroll. His eyes landed upon the beginning of a series of interlinked techniques.

'_Kayou : Kamisori Ha-Hitofuki no justu. _' thought Naruto as his eyes skimmed through the first technique in the set. Throwing caution to the wind Naruto began to set his mind to learning the details of the technique. A Single mistake when executing the technique would lead not only to the technique failing, but also to his likely demise.

* * *

Slowly the rain had begun to let up before dispersing entirely. Naruto stood in the centre of the clearing, the ground was blanketed by a thick layer of leaves. Green made up the body of the area, but it was speckled lightly with yellow and brown. Sweat was slowly dripping down his brow. Despite his physical exhaustion a smile of satisfaction was upon his lips. Even if the techniques he had learned were entirely situational, they were still useful.

A glance down at the scroll told Naruto that only a single set of instructions remained. A quick glance at the kanji just above them told him that they were not techniques, but instead they were special seals. A quick glance at the first one told him that they would not be useful in normal situations, even less so then the previous sets were. As Naruto's eyes landed upon the diagram for the first of the seals his body froze.

He recognised the diagram.

It was on his stomach.

Slowly Naruto's eyes slid across a couple of lines to the next seal. A frown overcame his lips as a soft whisper passed through his mind.

"_Stop reading._" It whispered.

But Naruto ignored it.

"**_Stop reading_**." It repeated a little more forcefully.

Yet still, Naruto Ignored it.

"Oh screw this." snarled a harsh voice from in front of Naruto.

He was able to look up just in time to see a flesh coloured object hurtling towards his face.

**Crack!**

Naruto's head snapped backwards violently as it slammed into his face. His entire form was sent flying. In mid air, Naruto shook his mind out of the shock it had fallen into at the sudden attack from the unexpected, unnoticed assailant. Quickly he shifted his weight and allowed his body to change it's direction, allowing him to roll in midair as his body rapidly approached the ground.

As soon as his feet made contact with the ground, Naruto's eyes snapped back to the location he was prior standing at. Once again his body froze.

Floating in mid-air was a disembodied fist. Slowly, the fist drifted downwards and rested vertically. Slowly the finger's unfurled and revealed the slender, pale fingers. From the hand colour slowly seeped up and gave light to an arm, following it came a body, and a set of legs connected to the body. Naruto's entire focus was upon the person slowly being shown before him.

His heart was aching. It confused him, but his eyes never once left the space above the next. Slowly the colour was moving upwards and it soon revealed a set of eyes-Purple eyes. Naruto's heart jumped within his chest as he stared into the eyes of the person before him. He quickly realised that it was a girl. But soon enough, he snapped out of his stupor.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked coldly as he slowly straightened his body up from out of it's stretched out position.

"So you really did forget me?" the girl asked softly as she began to walk forwards towards Naruto.

Despite himself, Naruto found himself wanting to step away from the girl. Something he had never truly felt the need to do to anyone else before. Not even Nara Yoshino, who was frightening when angered.

"This is…disappointing." she murmured to her self. " I had just assumed that you did not want to let anyone know about me." She continued. "Your sessions with Nara-san should have been a give away I suppose, but a girl can hope can't she?" the girl asked finally as she stood a few meters away from Naruto.

"Who are you!" snarled Naruto as he reached into his weapons pouch and withdrew a kunai. In a flash he struck out with the weapon, attempting to holding it to the girl's neck. His eyes widened in shock as the metal came into contact with the girl's skin and slid forwards.

"That wasn't very nice." Stated the girl amusedly as she slowly reached up and grasped Naruto's offending arm's wrist with her hand. Instantly Naruto's teeth gritted together.

'_What is she!_' he wondered in his mind.

Her grip on his wrist was phenomenally painful. The fact that he had just passed a Kunai through her throat and it amounted to little to no effect, as the Kunai had simply passed through her as if she did not exist. But then she did; the pain in his wrist, and the afct that she had hit him spoke truth for that.

Finally, Naruto could not hold onto the Kunai any longer and released him grip. The tell-tale clink of metal against dry leaves gave him cause to look down, and so he did. He was shocked to see that the kunai was lying against the grass, as if it had simply fell down through thin air.

Naruto's mind quickly picked up another factor; The girl made no impressions upon the leaves at all, they should have cracked and broken up, or at the very least shown a foot print. Instead, they like the kunai showed no evidence of her existence.

"What are you?" asked Naruto in a soft voice as he hesitantly reached forwards and lifted his hand to the girl's face, slowly he pressed his hand forward and trailed his fingers down her cheek.

"It doesn't make sense…" murmured Naruto as he dropped his hand to his side.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked for the third time.

To his annoyance the girl yet again ignored his question, and instead of answering moved even closer to the point of Naruto beginning to feel uncomfortable. Unconsciously he took a step backwards. An _innocent_ smile met his action. It steeled his nerves, instead of retreating the opposite foot back he held strong.

Slowly the girl's arms snaked around his body. He suddenly found himself in the girl's embrace. On impulse his arms lifted up and almost mimicked the girl's actions before Naruto snapped to his senses.

"Don't touch m-" Naruto started, only to be cut off as the girl stomped on his foot.

Naruto grinded his teeth together as he held back a yelp of pain. The girl took advantage of his silence. Slowly she pressed her lips to his ear.

"The silver haired guy, Mizuki lied to you, this isn't really the Genin test, you get that after you meet your sensei. He tricked you into stealing a Forbidden Scroll." She whispered softly.

Naruto couldn't believe what he was hearing, and thus, he didn't. Slowly, the girl stepped backwards and released Naruto from her grip.

"He should be arriving right about…" she paused for a moment, just as from the trees a ruffle of leaves drew Naruto's attention away from the girl. "Now."

On que A green, black and silver blur broke through the canopy over head. Naruto watched as Mizuki dropped to the ground and landed upon his feet with a series of crunches from the leaves. He stared directly at Naruto, something which surprised the boy.

'_Can't he see her?_' wondered Naruto as his eyes flickered to the girl then abck to the smiling Mizuki.

"Ah, Sorry Mizuki-sama, I don't know who she is." Naruto apologised before stepping around the purple eyed girl and moving towards Mizuki.

Mizuki blinked stupefied. He turned his head and glanced into the direction that Naruto's eyes had flickered to. A snort almost erupted from his nostrils as his eyes landed upon nothing out of the ordinary, besides the abnormal amount of leaves in the clearing.

Mizuki's eyes flickered to the white linen cloth of the Hokages robes. He quickly took note that the scroll was open for the world to see. Naruto watched as the colour drained from Mizuki's face and the silver haired man reached behind his back and gripped the top Wind-mill shuriken upon his back.

"I'm sorry for this, Naruto-kun but you shouldn't have opened the scroll." stated Mizuki with absolutely no hint of remorse.

"See." Stated the purple haired girl as she stepped up to Naruto's side once again and pointed to Mizuki. "He just used you to get the scroll, now he is going to kill you, take the Forbidden scroll and get away." She paused for a moment. "You really should have lis-"

"**Shut up**." snarled Naruto as his eyes remained trained on Mizuki.

Mizuki's eyes narrowed at the outburst from Naruto.

"What did you say! Demon-Fox, DIE!" shouted Mizuki as he dug his finger's into the sides of the large shuriken and sliced his hand towards Naruto. In mid-swing Mizuki released his hold on the shuriken and allowed it to fire towards Naruto. A Grimace appeared on Naruto's face as he realised that the girl ahd been right. In an Instant his hands were flashing through a set of seals so quickly that they appeared to be a blur, even to Mizuki's eyes.

Naruto's hands instantly stopped on the final seal; **_Tori_** _(Bird)_

"**_Kayou : Kamisori Ha-Hitofuki no justu(1)_**!" stated Naruto calmly.

Instantly from the ground the leaves erupted upwards, creating a vortex-like wall in front of Naruto. Without warning, the leaves surged towards the incoming metal projectile. Mizuki smirked at Naruto's technique. He was beyond certain that the leaves would be unable to slice through the metal's exterior, the very most he assumed they would be able to do would be alter the direction slightly and scratch up the outside.

Boy was he wrong.

As the leaves slowly began to settle Mizuki tried to stare past the body of the down pouring leaves and continued to do so until he was able to see the result. His muscles instantly tightened as Naruto was revealed, standing in the exact same position, in the exact same spot. If Mizuki looked hard enough he would have been able to see the shards of the Shuriken lying amongst the leaves.

The girl next to him let out a low whistle as she watched the leaves subside.

"You know, it was impressive when you used it on the tree's." she paused and gave a quick glance to the edges of the clearing, which were scattered with leaves, but had bumps common to the area. "But DAMN, that was cool." She finished as she slung an arm over Naruto's shoulders.

Instantly Naruto reached up and removed the girl's arm from his shoulder's and stepped away, sending her an annoyed look. He quickly made eye contact with Mizuki again.

"Why did you do this Mizuki-sama?" asked Naruto confusedly.

Mizuki snorted and laughed.

"Why would I explain myself to you, Demon-Fox?" asked Mizuki haughtily as she reached behind his back and took hold of the second Wind-Mill Shuriken attached to his back.

"Demon-Fox?" questioned Naruto blankly.

Mizuki's face took on a feral quality.

"Twelve years ago a special law was passed, a law that stated that no one would speak the truth to you,(_Next to Naruto the girl was screaming at the top of her lungs, but it seemed Mizuki took no notice of her.)_ the Demon-Fox; Kyuubi."

The bottom of Naruto's stomach seemed to drop out. His right hand slowly lifted up to his cheek and touched upon the three thin lines upon his cheek.

"_Demon."_

"_Monster."_

"_Murderer."_

The voices of the villagers rang throughout his ehad, and for once Naruto found himself unable to ignore it. His right hand slid up to the side of his ehad, and soon his left hand found itself on the opposite side of his head, cradling it. Naruto was hard pressed to see Mizuki begin to spin the Shuriken upon his hand. It was improbable for him to notice that Mizuki had begun to charge at him. It was impossible for him to notice that Mizuki had launched the Shuriken, and that it was heading directly for his head.

It was highly likely that the sudden pain spike in the side of his head was the girl's fist smashing into his head and knocking him out of the way of the deadly projectile. Naruto snapped back to reality in time to watch the deadly projectile reach the location he would have been had he not been knocked away. He watched it ehad straight for the girl who had just saved his life.

He watched on in horror as she remained still. His heart thudded in his chest as the shuriken passed directly through her as if she were not there at all.

"Naruto-kun, the second Yami-hasu technique you learned. This would be a choice time to practice it." snapped the girl as she turned her body to face him.

Naruto nodded dumbly as he slowly staggered to his feet and straightened his body up. Turning to Mizuki quickly Naruto's body slid into a more tense, strained position as his hands began to slide through a set of seals as fast as they had prior. Once again the final seal was the **_Tori_**.

"**_Yami-Hasu: Kagirinai Reikon Toru no jutsu(2)_**" declared Naruto emotionlessly.

From the point in the middle of the seal a dark-blue light slowly began to fade into existence, and before anyone knew what was happening it had already enveloped Naruto's hands and was travelling Up Naruto's arms. Suddenly, without warning the dark blue shifted through the spectrum of colours and became Orange.

Gone was the pulsing light, in it's place a Raging orange inferno was consuming Naruto's body. Ignoring the sudden shift in the techniques development Naruto broke his hands apart from the Tori seal. Instantly the Flame-like light receded to both his hands. It didn't last long as Naruto drew his hands backwards before thrusting them towards Mizuki who was already charging at Naruto.

From Naruto's palms a surge of almost shadow-like flames erupted and twisted together, forming a stream of darkness. Mizuki skidded to a halt quickly and began to backtrack, a frightened look made itself apparent on Mizuki's face as he watched the shadow loom over him. At the last moment Mizuki lunged to his right. From where he would have been the surge of shadows had slammed into the ground. Unfortunately for him it did not end there. From the main stream dozen's upon dozen's of smaller shadow lines erupted out and were drawn towards his position.

Naruto closed his eyes as the shadowy tendrils closed down upon Mizuki. But no matter what he could not block out the scream of terror that erupted from his former sensei's mouth as the technique bore down upon him and consumed him.

The girl however had no qualms about watching Mizuki. She watched as the tendril's converged upon his face and tore into his eyes. The Blood curdling scream had no effects what so ever upon her. She watched on in satisfaction as the man's body slowly stopped convulsing. Finally the shadowy stream stopped and reversed, pulling out of Mizuki's eyes and flowing back to Naruto.

Naruto seemed to flinch lightly as the end of the technique reached his palms. Without warning Naruto crumpled to the ground and fell backwards.

The girl sighed as she watched Naruto pass out from the backlash of the technique. Although it was highly likely from the description that he would not be able to handle the effects, she ahd been hoping that he would have been awake for a little while longer. A sadistic gleam appeared in her eye as she glanced over at the prone body of Mizuki. She could just imagine what he had seen moments before the attack had touched him.

From the description, it would not be unreasonable to assume that he had indeed seen something terrifying. Normally the target would have seen a glimpse into the user's soul. But then, the lead up to the technique had changed for Naruto. Instead it had taken on a more…Demonic turn. A small smile played upon her lips as she imagined the fear Mizuki would have experienced as he bore witness to the first sighting of The Kyuubi's eyes in Twelve years.

For more then one reason, Anko was feeling giddy, for the first time in seven years.

* * *

**(1) - Lotus Leaf: Razor Leaf Storm technique**

**(2) - Dark Lotus: Soul devour technique**


	4. Appointments and Apartments

**And the fourth installment came with a venegance upon those who read it. For some reason the line break's are not working, thus I will try later ocne i get abck from school. ( Which I should have been at three hour's ago.) Enjoy, Review, whatever. I dedicate this chapter to a few people at may they forever demand I write.**

**  
Jon**

Naruto stared up blankly, above him an endless white seemed to spread out in every direction, the only attribute of it that revealed to him that his eyes were moving were the slight discolouration spread throughout it.

'_An unfamiliar ceiling..._ ' thought Naruto as his eyes slowly drifted downwards off the ceiling. A grimace took shape upon his face as from within his chest a sharp stabbing pain flared to life.

With the shock of the sudden pain, Naruto's mind surged into action, recounting the last moments he remembered. A bitter frown came upon his lips as his thought's focused on his late teacher Mizuki. The bastard had set him up although; in Naruto's eyes he had been paid back for his deceitful trick. At first thought, he had been slightly worried over Mizuki's state of health. While his body was still alive, he was technically not there.

The technique he had used; Yami-Hasu: Kagirinai Reikon Toru no Jutsu had more or less rendered Mizuki's sentience null. For all the name meant it did not, could not truly devour Mizuki's soul, instead it had damaged Mizuki's neutral pathways beyond repair, among other things, or rather that should have been what should have happened.

Instead something within him had snapped, and intercepted the techniques execution. The Dark blue had been expected, it was the large concentration of Chakra which gave it that colour. But the shift in the nature of the Chakra was unexpected. At the Zenith of the techniques preparation he had lost control of his arms and the technique. It had taken on a life of its own.

The other feature of the technique was that it latched onto some of the target's Chakra and tore it back to the source. While on paper to a novice it would sound like a gift from Kami; Free Chakra. But in real life the results were quite different. A person's Chakra unless controlled by its owner would lash out and react violently to anything trying to control it.

With the fractured technique out of control, the amount of Chakra that had revolted against him had been what he expected Mizuki's near full Chakra reserves to be. With that much foreign Chakra he was surprised he was still alive, much less awake with only minimal pains in his chest.

Naruto's mind quickly switched from Mizuki and the technique to the single most abnormal thing in his mind. The appearance of the purple haired girl who had appeared in front of him, and hit him twice, saving him with the later. Not to mention his inability to touch her with an external object. He was able to touch her with his own skin, but now with Steel, which passed straight through her as though she was not solid, such as a Bunshin.

For some reason he felt a connection to her, a deep one which he could not begin to fathom. He had a feeling that he knew her, was close to her. But for the life of himself he could not remember; only brief flashes of her face seemed to come up when he looked back in his mind and scoured over the events he remembered in his entire life.

In the corner of his eye he noticed something shift. He continued to stare at the junction between the roof and the wall opposite him...

"You're still here aren't you?" he asked softly.

"Uhuh." murmured a familiar voice lazily.

Slowly Naruto turned his head towards the source of the voice until his head was resting upon its side, and his gaze was centred on the purple haired girl.

She was laying back languidly upon the bed next to him, staring up at the ceiling. He took a few moments to take in her appearance. The first thing he noticed when he first saw her in the forest, and the first thing his mind and eyes came back to was her hair, it was a dark purple. It looked to be tied up at the back with a hair band, he couldn't be sure.

Her eyes were also purple, albeit a lighter shade. Her facial features were at the cross between soft and sharp, it looked as though she was in the beginning of her teens. It didn't detract from her looks instead it allowed her to be described in more then a few ways. As Naruto looked at her he could easily describe her as cute.

She was wearing a simple maroon shirt along with cream short's which stopped more then a few inches above her knee's. Fishnet stocking covered the majority of her legs except for a small band of skin which was uncovered between them and her shorts.

Naruto continued to stare at her for a few more minutes until he finally found his voice again.

"Who are you?" he asked again quietly.

It seemed to be the wrong thing to ask, the girl's eyes narrowed and in a single swift movement he jumped off the bed she was on, flipped in the confined air space and landed on top of Naruto with her knee's resting on opposite sides of his body. Her finger's quickly ensnared around the sides of his face and into his hair, before his head was jerked up towards her own roughly. Naruto squinted his eyes as he braced for impact.

It never came, instead the girl's voice echoed into his ears.

"You still can't remember my name?" she asked with restrained anger.

Naruto winced as the girl's finger's dug into his scalp. With the added pain to his being he withdrew into his mind and ran past every single moment in his life he could recall, but once again came up with nothing. Slowly he reached up and grasped the girl's wrists firmly; pulling them both away from his head and allowing his head to fall backwards back onto the pillow behind his head.

"You are such a jerk." She snarled angrily as she shook his hands off her wrists violently. "I look after you for the first five years of your life and you completely forget about me seven years later? Have you no shame!" she asked angrily.

The sound of flesh meeting flesh echoed throughout the room as her palm made contact with his cheek.

Naruto stared up into the girl's eyes incredulously. He felt anger bubbling underneath his skin, threatening to come forth and cause him to act, and within moments, it did. Naruto's fist through little force of his will was thrust towards the girl's face. The girl's eyes widened before shutting closed tight as she prepared for impact.

It never came, she slowly cracked her eyes open until she could see again, but all she could see out of her right eye was a pink mass, which continued slightly over into her other eyes vision.

Slowly the fist unclenched and its finger's were hovering shakily millimetre's away from her face. Naruto watched as she closed her eyes and moved the side of her face against his hand, nuzzling it gently.

"My name is Mitarashi Anko…" she stated casually before pausing "Naruto-kun…" she continued after a moment of silence.

Naruto blinked blankly as she freely gave her name after the fourth time he had asked. He had begun to think he'd have to beat it out of her, something he doubted he would let himself do for the connection he felt towards her.

"What exactly are you?" asked Naruto quietly, before listing off a few assumptions. "A Bunshin? A product of Genjutsu? My own mind snapping?"

"How do you kno-" Naruto began to ask before the pain in his chest returned and caused him to curl forwards slightly. He exhaled a large amount of air through his nose as he remained still, ignoring the pain searing in his chest cavity.

"It was pretty stupid of you to use that attack against Mizuki, although it looked pretty cool." She had amusedly.

Naruto snorted lightly as he turned his head towards her and smirked.

"No it was stupid of _you_ to tell me to use it." Naruto quipped lightly before turning serious. "I have no idea why I trust you or feel so at ease with you, enough to share such things. Mizuki was the exception, but I usually have a good gut instinct about people." finished Naruto lamely.

Anko stared bemusedly at Naruto.

"I know, but it was a prime chance for you to use the technique without repercussion. After you get on a team and go on missions your sensei will probably try and stop you from using those tricks." She explained as she examined her finger nails.

"_Not to mention he deserved it._" She said to herself moments after, before smiling brightly at Naruto.

Naruto's lips quirked up slightly before his mind hit a mental brick wall as it recalled some of Mizuki's words. Specifically the one's declaring Naruto as something other than human.

Naruto's complete cease of bodily movement caused no small amount of concern on Anko's part, after a few moments of calling Naruto's name she reached across and nudged his shoulder slightly in an attempt to shake him from his stupor.

Her attempts failed.

Inside Naruto's mind he was looking reviewing the situation once again, nit-picking every detail of Mizuki's face and body disposition as he remembered. Both Mizuki's face and posture, although clouded by anger seemed to be honest and open. Which meant that Mizuki truly believed he was the Demon Fox; Kyuubi.

The mark's upon his cheeks and the way Konoha as a whole treated him gave strength to Mizuki's statement. Which disturbed Naruto, he as far as he knew was human, he bled as humans did, he ate like they did, for all intents and purposes, (and in his mind realities) he was human. Soon he decided it was pointless debating with himself over a lunatic's word and vowed to speak with the Sandaime over the matter and get to the bottom of it, one way or another.

"Don't make me bite you!" snarled Anko as she roughly shook Naruto by his shoulders.

It was to that Naruto came back to reality. It wasn't very comforting. Quickly Naruto shook himself free of Anko's hands and slipped out of the hospital bed.

"I need to see the Sandaime." stated Naruto blankly to Anko before turning away from the purple haired girl and beginning to walk around the bed.

"Is that so?" stated a tired and gruff voice from beyond the door.

The handle turned and the door opened, revealing a frowning Sandaime.

Naruto immediately stood at attention before grimacing as pain raced through his chest once again.

The Sandaime smiled bemusedly as he walked into the room.

"I was afraid after we had found out that someone had stolen the Forbidden Scroll it was they would get away, but it seems like you were able to apprehend them in time, Naruto-kun, good work." said the Sandaime as he smiled warmly down at Naruto.

Naruto frowned lightly before opening his mouth, only to pause and close his mouth again.

The Sandaime seemed to mistake Naruto's silence as guilt over Mizuki's condition.

"It wasn't your fault, Naruto-kun. Mizuki tried to use a technique which was far beyond the average ninja's abilities." said The Sandaime soothingly.

The truth was, that Naruto was not feeling guilty over Mizuki's condition, rather he was feeling guilty over what he was about to do.

"I should have been able to stop him from using it though." said Naruto softly as he shifted his gaze from the Sandaimes face to the ground, removing the chance that the Sandaime would pick up the lie through the dilation of his eyes.

Behind Naruto Anko made a disgruntled face before walking up to behind.

"_I never thought you'd lie to the Sandaime._" She whispered into his ear mockingly.

Naruto tensed slightly as he heard the word's echo through his mind, but he ignored them. The Sandaime had done a lot for him, and he did not want the man to know he had broken into his office. In the end it didn't matter, Mizuki was out of commission and wouldn't be able to say anything against it, not to mention if he had been able The Sandaime would not have taken him seriously.

A hand came down softly upon his shoulder prompting him to look up into the eyes of a smiling Sandaime.

"Which is why I came to see you." started the Sandaime as he removed his hand from Naruto's shoulder. "This morning, a certain female Nara came to my office and demanded to be able to see you, it appears that the Knowledge that you stopped Mizuki escaping with the Forbidden scroll has spread like wildfire through the Village." he continued amusedly as he watched Naruto's face morph into a mix between a smile and a scowl.

"How long before I have to meet her?" asked Naruto bemusedly.

"She said anytime before twelve, after that she said she'd hunt you down, which leaves you... Ten minutes I do believe." informed the Sandaime lazily.

Naruto's jaw clenched as his eyes quickly shifted to the door behind the Sandaime and back. He was sure he could make it to the Academy in time, but before he left he had a single thing left to ask the Sandaime.

"Sir… What happened to the Kyuubi?" asked Naruto hesitantly.

The Sandaimes reaction didn't really surprise Naruto, the old man's eyes widened instantly, before slowly reverting back to their usual size.

"The Kyuubi…" the Sandaime trailed off into silence while staring into Naruto's eyes.

Naruto's heart thudded inside his chest, momentarily increasing the pain inside. He was becoming increasingly aware of every line and wrinkle on the Sandaimes face, along with the pungent smell of antiseptic in the room. More so he was becoming aware of the girl; Anko's presence right behind him, he could feel her pressing against him lightly, she seemed to be leaning forward, waiting for the Sandaimes answer.

"The Kyuubi was destroyed by the Fourth." said the Sandaime softly. "He destroyed its body at the cost of his own life."

Silenced seem to permeate in the room for a few minutes, before the Sandaime spoke again.

"Mizuki told you, that you were the Kyuubi, didn't he?" asked the Sandaime.

Naruto silently nodded to the question, before he felt a hand lay itself upon his shoulder once again.

"You are not the Kyuubi, Naruto-kun." The Sandaime reassured Naruto kindly, before removing his hand again. "Although I had hoped that Mizuki had redeemed himself it seems he was unstable as he has ever been." He continued morosely. With that The Sandaime turned around to face the door and proceeded to walk towards it. He grasped the handle and paused.

"You should hurry; I have heard she does not like people being late." he stated bemusedly as he swung the door open, just in time for Naruto to rush out of it, unbeknownst to the Sandaime, a certain purple haired girl had also rushed past him, moments after.

Naruto pushed open the hospital doors, ignoring the scandalised looks of the Doctors and Nurses as he disturbed the peace and relative quiet of the lobby. It wasn't long before he was dashing across the tile covered roof tops of Konoha towards the Academy, only recognisable by his blonde hair.

The cool summer's breeze was wafting through Konoha, along with the scent of the forest. While normally the smells of the occupants overpowered the natural scent of the surrounding forest, now and then the aroma of the forest crept into the village. It refreshed Naruto, while most of the people he had encountered during the times in the year when it occurred, disliked the smell. He found it amusing that they would hate the very smell that from the History notes first brought the First and Second to the land.

"What did you think of the Sandaimes answer?" shouted a familiar voice from Naruto's left, causing him to glance in that direction.

He wasn't surprised to find Anko expertly dodging from roof to roof. It didn't seem to be strange that the Sandaime couldn't see her or hear her. In fact he was more inclined to keep her existence a secret. If he let it slip he had a feeling he'd be heading to a mental correction centre faster then he could say Kunai.

Naruto had to bite back a reply as he remembered that he was for all intents and purposes of Konoha travelling by himself. With the ease of someone who had travelled the roof tops more then a dozen times Naruto moved closer to Anko until he was side by side with her.

"He seemed to be holding something back." said Naruto as lowly as he could, although the chances anyone was listening to him was low; it was still possible for a civilian to hear him.

"But why would he?" Naruto asked almost inaudibly.

To Naruto it did not matter whether he was the Demon or not. If he was a demon then all it meant was that it was a lot stronger then the majority of Konoha. But that wasn't right. From the comparison of his strength to those around him he knew he wasn't the strongest, nor anywhere near the highest power he could achieve. It was obvious that he wasn't a demon.

On the other hand, his cheeks had been marked for as long as he could remember. Although he would mostly deny it t the people around him his senses were as far as he knew, higher then the people he had met besides Kiba.

It was a confusing thing to think about.

"What if I were to tell you that he lied to you?" asked Anko seriously as she stared ahead.

Naruto turned his head to face her for a moment before glancing up ahead. His eyes widened as he realised that both he and Anko were heading directly for a higher story building. Without hesitating for a moment he kicked off as hard as he could from the ground and sent himself up, into the air, over the obstacle in front of him.

His eyes widened as he quickly glanced around and found not a single sign of Anko's presence; he had begun to panic and quickly leaned over the edge to look down, praying that he would not see her body lying prone on the roof.

"Hey, Hurry up or you'll be late." came a voice from the opposite side of the building.

Naruto felt like slapping himself, Metal hadn't been able to touch her prior, why would wood and concrete be any different? Quickly he turned around and vaulted off the high point of the building, down back onto the average height buildings, near Anko.

"You scared me." he said accusingly before thinking back moments to her question.

_What if the Sandaime had lied?_

It didn't matter, as he thought prior. Nothing would change. It just meant that the treatment from the villagers was warranted, not that he'd ever take it of course.

"So I am Kyuubi?" he asked casually as if it were nothing more then an every day thing to find out.

"I never said that." snapped Anko aggressively.

She took a moment to compose herself before speaking again.

"The Kyuubi wasn't _completely_ destroyed." She murmured quietly as both she and Naruto landed at the gates to the Academy.

"So, I'm the reincarnation of the Kyuubi?" asked Naruto bemusedly as he continued walking towards the Academy.

Naruto winced lightly as an aggravated scream ripped forth from Anko's mouth. He could just feel the anger she was harbouring for him.

"No, **_you_** aren't the Kyuubi!" she all but shouted.

"Alright." finalised Naruto innocently before his eyes came upon a few of the younger academy students approaching him.

His lips creased into thin lines and he spoke again, his lips movements barely visible.

"Can you go away or something until I'm finished with Nara Yoshino?" he asked emotionlessly.

Beside him Anko shrugged and smirked.

"Suit yourself." She said haughtily before turning away and seemingly disappearing.

Naruto relaxed immediately after seeing her disappear. He felt at ease with the girl; Anko, but it didn't mean he wanted her to witness all his thoughts. Internally it troubled him that he trusted her so. He didn't understand why his mind was so agreeable with her presence. It gave more evidence to suspect he had indeed known her from his childhood. But she seemed to be no older then he was, only twelve, if even that.

A frown appeared on Naruto's lips as he entered the main academy building, he had thought his memory had been infallible, he remembered most, if not all of the information he had learned in the Academy, not to mention he could remember back to when he first requested to be allowed to begin training.

Naruto's mind locked up for a moment as a simple process of putting two pieces of information together overtook his entire cerebrum cortex. Soon enough he was free of the mind numbing conclusion that he was brought to. But he dared not think about it again.

With a small shake of his head Naruto reached up and placed his hand upon the hand of the door to Yoshino's office, his finger's curled upon the handle and for a moment remained still, unmoving, before slowly he twisted it clockwise and gave it a light shove, allowing it to swing open to reveal the interior of Yoshino's workspace.

Although over the pass few years' he had been a frequent _patient_ of the older woman, he had seen few changes in the room'slayout. The only thing which had changed was the setup of the seats in the room, it now was arranged so that Yoshino's seat faced the door at an angle and had the patient bed in front angled diagonally across part of the room.

As it were, Yoshino was sitting in her chair with right leg draped over her left leg and her hands folded neatly. Naruto winced lightly as he took notice of the glare adorning her eyes. She lifted her hand up from her lap and waved it idly to the low chair in front of her.

Not being one to cause trouble, especially with someone who was as prone to anger attacks as Yoshino, Naruto quietly and swiftly made his way to the seat, before sitting down upon it and leaning back upon it. Naruto's eyes made contact with Yoshino's again and he remained silent as she glared back at him.

Neither said anything, nor did they blink for five minutes. Soon enough, Naruto's eyes began to water as the air of the room began to dry up the fluid coating his eyes. Unable to keep his eyes open for the stinging pain which seemed to encompass them Naruto blinked five times in rapid succession in order to lubricate them again.

As soon as he was able to see properly again, Naruto noticed the triumphant gleam in Yoshino's eyes, along with the absence of the glare which had occupied them just before.

"I've heard that you passed your Genin exam, congratulations." She said casually as from beside her, upon a table she picked up a small notepad, along with a pen.

Naruto nodded lightly before flickering his eyes down to the notepad and pen in her hands. She hadn't, as far as he could recall, used the notepad and pen for at least three years.

"Thank you." said Naruto levelly.

Yoshino nodded lightly and switched her gaze from Naruto to the notepad before speaking again.

"I've heard you have had an eventful night." She said softly, before turning her gaze back to Naruto and smiling.

Naruto's eyes narrowed slightly before nodding, yet again.

"It was quite interesting, unexpected, but Interesting." Naruto murmured.

"If I remember correctly this isn't the first incident involving a Chuunin is it?" she asked calmly.

Naruto's frame tensed and his eyes hardened as he stared at Yoshino. She remembered well enough it seemed.

"That is correct." He said slowly through his teeth.

"How do you feel about this incident exactly?" she asked casually.

Naruto's eyes narrowed slightly before his posture changed in a single moment, to a more relaxed, calm position.

"The entire situation wasn't entirely remarkable, it is to be expected sometimes that certain unsavourily ninja's will rebel against their villages and do things such as Mizuki did. It was quite disturbing to think that he on chance happened upon me while I was training in the forest. From what the Sandaime has told me about his condition, it seems am lucky to have gotten away relatively unscathed." Naruto spoke calmly and without pause.

Yoshino nodded and glanced down to the notepad in her hands before beginning to write upon it. As she continued to write she spoke again.

"And how do you _really_ feel, all pretence about being an emotionally stable individual aside?" Yoshino questioned calmly, pausing to glance up to Naruto's face. A small satisfied smile grew upon her lips as she watched Naruto scowl.

"The situation with Mizuki disturbed me slightly because I was told a lie and believed it, up until talking with the Sandaime. The Lie didn't affect me much either way. The most remarkable…" Naruto trailed off into silence as his eyes slid from Yoshino to the side of the room."

"The most remarkable…?" queried Yoshino softly.

"It's nothing, it was a slip of the tongue." Naruto informed Yoshino with a small dismissing wave of his hand.

Yoshino sighed and put down her notepad along with the pen that accompanied it.

"Are these games really necessary? We both know you don't say anything unless you mean to, Naruto-kun." Yoshino snapped exasperatedly.

Naruto shrugged lightly.

"I'm not sure if I want to talk about it, that's all." Naruto said innocently, before losing the façade.

"I think… I've found the reason I wanted to get stronger." Naruto murmured softly as he glanced back to Yoshino's face.

He was surprised to see s slight hint of fear etched upon her features, before it was, almost in less then a second hidden beyond an interested smile. Internally Naruto was worried at Yoshino's reaction, but at the same time was curious about it.

"That is surprising, and just last night?" she asked herself before motioning with her right hand. "Go on." She urged softly.

"A small amount of time before I encountered Mizuki… I met this girl… She's unlike anyone I've ever met, literally." spoke Naruto softly.

Yoshino nodded slowly before inching her hands over to the Notepad and pen once again and picking it up.

"I expected you to begin to find attraction to the opposite gender soon, unlike my son who still has his head in the clouds." Yoshino sighed out.

Naruto shook his head at the notion made by Yoshino.

"No, no that isn't it. She is around my age, but that isn't it… She seems familiar, like I know her from somewhere, but I can't remember her. Whether it is a selective memory or I've been coerced to forget… I'm unsure."

"Do you trust her?" Yoshino asked kindly as she finished a small script upon her notepad and set it aside for the final time.

Naruto held his silence for a few moments as he contemplated the question. It wasn't an easy one. Consciously he didn't trust her. But subconsciously he was more then sure he would put his life in her hands. His thoughts were being over ridden by instinct and feelings it seemed.

"I trust her." Naruto finally said after more then a bit of self debate.

Yoshino nodded again and leaned forward, resting her elbow upon her knee and her chin upon her hand. A mischievous smile adorned her face and put Naruto on guard.

"So, you've become a Genin, you're going to be put on a team in three days. Is there anyone you'd like to be on the same team as?"

Naruto started at her incredulously, from her pose and facial expression he had assumed that she would ask something more personal. It was what she had usually done when she wanted to get information out of him.

"Not really, in terms of skill I'd want Sasuke and Shino to be on my team. But they aren't the easiest to get along with. Generally I'd prefer Kiba and Shikamaru, they're much easier to get along with and I am more familiar with their skills."

Yoshino nodded to herself silently before speaking gain.

"Yes, I expected you to want to be on Shikamaru's team. It's preferable, you're much more reliable then the Akimichi boy, Chouji. He's a nice boy but… They wouldn't even be friends if it wasn't for that pushover husband of mine." She said exasperatedly.

Naruto frowned lightly, but didn't say anything. From what Yoshino had said it was obvious to Naruto that she had not taken any time to get to know the young boy, or even watch him train. Naruto didn't expect her to, thus it didn't entirely surprise him what her opinion of the large boy was.

"How about girls? Are there any pretty girl's in your class you like?" she teased lightly.

Naruto's face scrunched up for a moment as his thought's turned to the girls in his class. 'Pretty' narrowed it down a fair bit. Out of the small amount of girl's in his class he could pick out three who could be considered pretty. But each one of them had a personality fault which Naruto found annoying, if only slightly.

Hyuuga Hinata was one of the girls. While she had a fair complexion and was a truly caring person, she lacked any sort of backbone. He had seen her talk with her father once, and needless to say he wasn't exactly introduced to a loving Father-Daughter relationship. The elder Hyuuga seemed to view Hinata as an object to which he could use for the good of the clan. But as it were Hinata's 'object' value wasn't very high with her less then average amount of confidence.

Yamanaka Ino was the second girl. She was for lack of a better word, the most beautiful girl around his age he had ever seen. She would have been Naruto's Academy crush if it weren't for one thing. She was as Shikamaru said, _troublesome_; her personality seemed over bearing in comparison to most of the people he had met. But at the same time she was very passionate about the things she chose to do.

…and finally there was Haruno Sakura.

Naruto honestly didn't have anything against the girl. But her attitude towards him was not a welcome thing. He could see himself being more civil to her if she put more effort into training to become a Kunochi, but as it stood all she did, as far as he could tell from her ramblings to him, which as much as he tried could not block out, she only learned the things which the Academy's curriculum included. She was smart, but only Textbook smart.

"Not really." Naruto said, keeping his answer short.

The displeasure at Naruto's answer was obvious in Yoshino's expression. It was obvious what she wanted, or at least in Naruto's eyes. The displeasure slowly morphed into understanding.

"I see, are there any boy's you like, Naruto-kun?" she questioned gently.

A pair of blue eyes glared back at her.

"I am _not_ gay." Naruto all but yelled.

Yoshino's face seemed to soften slightly at the outburst.

"Are you sure?" she asked sympathetically "I'll understand if you are, I promise no one besides both of us will know."

Naruto's frame shook with suppressed anger. He was **_not_** in any way, shape or form Homosexual, he had nothing against those who were, but he had no desire **_at all_** to partake in carnal activities with those of the same sex as him.

"Alright, alright Dammit!" Naruto conceded angrily. "I like Ino!" he finally said before looking away from Yoshino.

It seemed Yoshino still wasn't satisfied however. She arched her left eyebrow momentarily before allowing it to drift back down.

"Yamanaka Ino? I hadn't expected that, I thought you would have liked the Sakura girl, she comes here now and then asking for advice about you, you know." She informed, smiling mischievously.

Naruto blinked.

"I thought you were supposed to keep your patience information secret." Naruto stated blankly.

Yoshino blinked stupefied before smiling nervously and waving her hand in front of her dismissively. "You're exempt from that rule, we both know you wouldn't do anything mean to the person or even let them know about it, besides it concerns you." She said defensively.

"Why do you like her? Yoshino asked curiously, with a hint of distain.

Naruto had a feeling that Yoshino expected his answer to be a simple 'She's pretty'. Although that was more then half the truth, he wasn't going to let Yoshino assume he was shallow, which he technically _was_.

"I like her because… She is holding herself back for the sake of her friend." Naruto made up off the top of his head. It was a half truth. Ino had been slacking off ever since she had met Sakura, or so she told Naruto when he couldn't scape her one day after school when both he and she had been kept back for 'disturbing' the other students.

She had done something worthy of being kept back; she had provoked Chouji, calling him a Fat ass after he told her she should eat more. Their teacher, Iruka had over heard and diffused the situation before anyone got hurt, or any furniture was destroyed.

Naruto however did no such thing. Sakura had just begun to take an active role in showing her affection towards him. She, for the entire part had gotten away with whispering things to him as Iruka gave a lecture upon the surrounding countries adjacent to The Fire country. He however, wanted to confirm the things he had learned prior, but couldn't with Sakura's continuously whispering into his ear.

He, of course, politely asked her to be quiet, but unluckily for him Iruka had stopped talking, and his low voice was heard.

Yoshino nodded lightly and remained silent, her eyes imploring Naruto to continue.

A dejected sigh erupted from Naruto's lips as he once again conceded to Nara Yoshino's will.

"She's kind and caring, although you wouldn't think so if you only knew her on the barest of levels."

Once again a half truth, Ino _could _be kind and caring, but most of the time she wasn't. It simply wasn't a personality trait she had in abundance. She could be rude, obnoxious and violent. But she had her moments, as did everyone.

Without waiting for Yoshino's nod Naruto gave a final reason.

"She can be a great friend."

A complete and utter truth, Yamanaka Ino, if anything, was a good friend, and a good person. Despite her characteristic's being sometimes unsavoury she had never done anything against her friends. Except perhaps Sakura, Naruto still wasn't sure what had happened between the two girls. He could tell however, that if he ever brought the subject up around Ino he would be in for a painful lesson in tact.

Yoshino smiled, finally satisfied.

"I was going to invite you over to dinner Yesterday, but you left the Academy before I could speak to you, and with last night's fiasco I doubt you would have made it even if I had managed to ask." She explained usually as she slowly stood up from her chair and took into hand her note pad.

Naruto gingerly stood up and waited for Yoshino to put away her notepad, which contained her notes about him. The sight of the notepad was a rare thing. Deep down he both itched to read what it said and felt anxious about it. It contained her diagnosis of his mental health.

Naruto soon lost himself in his thoughts about ironically, his mental health.

"…I'm sure Shikamaru would enjoy seeing you, since you both may not see each other for a while." Yoshino apparently finished, just in time for Naruto to gain enough information to leave him utterly confused.

"So, I expect you at our house around Eight." She practically ordered.

Naruto simply nodded blankly, knowing better then to decline an invitation from the temperamental Nara. With nothing else to hear, or say Naruto turned his back upon the older woman and walked out of the room, quietly closing the door behind himself.

As Naruto exited the Academy grounds he glanced around, looking for sign's of a certain Lavender haired girl. As he strolled through the Konoha streets he never stopped searching for her idly. Unfortunately for him, he never found her. Internally Naruto was both relived that she wasn't following him everywhere, and disappointed that she wasn't around and he could not talk to her.

Soon enough the sun crept below the horizon and darkness blanketed the land. Naruto stared up into the sky from his seat upon the Gigantic Hokage Monument. He was sitting upon the Fourth's head. Oddly enough he felt most comfortable upon the Fourth's replica. He assumed that it was because he was the youngest of the Hokages, thus closer to his age.

Being alone atop of the highest point in Konoha gave one an interesting perspective on life, or at least it did to Naruto. He looked at the events of the night before and openly viewed his thoughts on Mizuki, the appearance of Anko, the technique which she had told him to use, hearing information about the Kyuubi, or if Mizuki was to be believed, about himself.

Before Naruto knew it, or was able to fathom the time had vanished, and he was due in at the Nara residence. As it were their abode was on the other side of Konoha, on the outskirt's, right next to the deer farm Shikamaru's father, Shikaku, owned and operated.

Naruto honestly didn't feel like being fancy and bouncing off the walls. Instead he took time to leisurely race across the basically deserted streets of Konoha, apologising to those he almost came into contact with. He doubted his apology ever reached them as his voice was lost in the wind, even to himself.

Before he expected, or realised he was at the Nara residence. He had been there many times before, often invited over for lunch, dinner or for just a visit. He got along quite well with Shikaku, almost as well as he did with Shikamaru. The Patriarch of the Nara household was quite adept at bad jokes, but it didn't really matter, even though they failed in their original intended humour the laugh he gave afterwards was infectious and more often then not caused Naruto to give a small chuckle.

Naruto raised his fist to the door and rapped gently upon the hardwood frame. Almost instantly t was swung open to reveal a smiling Yoshino, who quickly ushered him into the house.

"Shikaku, Shikamaru! Get up, our guest is here!" she shouted slightly.

Both of the said men burst into the room under two seconds, they both looked mildly alarmed at being called so suddenly.

It was amusing, how both of the Nara men reacted when confronted with Yoshino. Naruto didn't blame them, if he had been living with her for twelve years, or more in Shikaku's place he'd be as… Shikamaru referred to his father 'Whipped'. Naruto sniffed at their air inconspicuously, wondering if dinner had been made. As it were, it had been and his nose was treated to a foreign scent. Before he could ask what was for dinner he was rushed into the living room by Yoshino, with both Shikamaru and Shikaku following behind, submissively.

The following night passed in a blur, from the expected bad jokes from Shikaku, the matches of Shogi, which he never won, the listening to Yoshino complain about this and that amidst talking about the things she had done around the house. Before not to long Naruto had said his good bye's to the small Nara family and was on his way back to his own home.

As it were he was taking a less direct route back, which crossed past many of his friend's houses, the closet being Chouji's. In retrospective it was a horrible idea. Chozu, Chouji's father just happened to be out the front. Like father, like son, Chozu was just as kind and gentle as his son, not to mention more rotund. Before Naruto knew what was happening he was dragged inside the Akimichi restaurant and treated to a dinner with the Akimichi. Although Naruto could have declined the invitation to eat, he knew better then that. To do so when invited to an Akimichi dinner would instantly put you into the bad book's with the entire clan. Thus, Naruto sat through a second dinner, trying his best to consume the most minimal amounts possible to save his body from bloating, and inevitably throwing up all that which he had eaten.

After it seemed an eternity, although it truly was only an hour, Naruto left the Akimichi and began to make his way home again, however he did not choose to follow the same route, and instead chose to take the quicker, **safer** Non-friend-filled route. The only person who he could have run into was someone of the Yamanaka family, and truth be told they were not overly fond of him as the Akimichi and Nara were.

Silently, Naruto walked past the most prominent flower shop in Konoha, which also happened to be the Yamanaka residence. Just as he was about to leave the immediate vicinity of the shop a voice called out to him from above the streets.

"Aren't you out a bit late, Naruto-kun?" asked a voice curiously.

Naruto halted instantly and turned his head towards the source of the voice. It was Ino, dressed in her Pyjamas. Naruto had to bite back a comment about her choice of attire for rest.

"I was just visiting Shikamaru and Chouji." Naruto explained away, before smiling lightly up at the blonde haired girl.

"And you weren't intending to visit me?" she pouted lightly before glaring down at Naruto. "How rude! They aren't your only friends you know." She snapped.

Naruto blinked owlishly. While he never actually considered Ino his friend, he hadn't realised that she could have considered him her friend. He usually did go out of his way to help her when he could, but then who wouldn't- Besides Sasuke.

"Well… I guess you can be forgiven this one time, because you woke me up for the test." She relented. "I couldn't believe how easy it was! I expected something hard but, I guess I shouldn't complain-"Naruto had heard enough, he knew that if he remained any longer he would fall asleep on the streets, listening to Ino continue to ramble on.

Utilizing the basic method of travelling for those who needed to make a quick escape, Naruto's body exploded into a puff of smoke and he vanished, leaving Ino to talk for a few more seconds before she realised what he had done and cursed his name.

After what seemed like an eternity, Naruto arrived home and promptly collapsed into bed, almost falling to sleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. For the following hour or so he drifted in and out of sleep constantly. As his eyes began to close for the final time, he felt something against his back. Slowly, a slight pressure encircled his sides. He found it comforting and let out a small sigh as he finally fell to sleep.

Anko smiled softly as she rested her forehead upon the back of his neck. She missed holding him when he slept, it was therapeutic.


	5. Possessions and Positions

**Another chapter out, and not a quater of a year later. I was rather disappointed with the response to the last chapter, although I suppose I may be expecting a bit much. I would really appreciate your response to his chapter. I'd say I expect everyone who has me on alert to review, but honestly I don't. I've been entertaining the idea of posting a list of everyone who hasn't reviewed a single time, and yet has me on alert. But I won't degrade people's reputations which they no doubt do not have. Annoying things happen when you let chapter's write themselves, as those who read will find out when they get to the middle of this chapter.**

**I doubt I will be able to write for a while, my final's are coming up, and the need to study and what not out-weigh's the rewards of writing. On another note; I am probably going to start a new story soon if I have time. It will be my first continuation story. But rather then continue from Naruto II or the end of Naruto, it will continue from a rather important point in the story.**

**Enjoy,**

**Jon**

**«---»**

It was the morning of the Genin meeting at the Academy, and neither Naruto, nor Anko had spoken of the morning when Naruto woke up with Anko's arms around him. Neither had spoken of the reaction or lack of one when Naruto had rolled over and opened his eyes to the peaceful face of Anko, he hade remained still, staring across the small distance at her face, tracing his eyes down from her eyes to her lips. His eyes remained stuck upon them for a few more moments, before he had shifted forwards slightly, moving his lips closer to hers, and then. She had smiled lightly and slid her eyes open. He had frozen instantly, and had still not lived down the action.

Over the past few day's they had ignored the incident and gone on to learn more of each other. More or less Each other being Naruto learning all he could about Anko. After the first day, whenever Anko had volunteered information about herself, Naruto had begun to fill in the blanks himself. That unconscious action on his part continued to reinforce Anko's claims to have known him in the past. And they continued to increase his confusion over his Non-recollection of her.

Aside form Anko; Naruto's thoughts were occupied with the thoughts of his To-be Genin Team and Instructor. As it were, he had no real idea of who they would be. He had a vague idea over all, but it didn't mean much. It was an unspoken fact, but it was a fact none the less, that the High ranking clan's within the village's children usually were paired together when it came time for the Genin teams to be decided. The Nara, Yamanaka and Akimichi clan's were a prime example, as far as he could remember in recent history, the offspring of the family had been paired off together. It was why he eliminated his three friends from being among his potential team-mates.

Sasuke, Shino, Hinata, Kiba were possibilities, but considering their skill's he was almost sure of the fact that Shino, Hinata and Kiba would be on the same team, simply to cement a perfect Search-And Destroy team. With their overall abilities in the field, Naruto wouldn't be surprised if together one day they rose to the top of the ranks in that department. Hinata's lack of confidence could possibility be reduced by being in such close proximity to Kiba's Brash personality, but it was unlikely.

With those six out of the way, it left only Sasuke; The Last Uchiha in Konoha. But besides Sasuke there was no one else. Considering His own lack of clan it was highly likely he would be shoved away with two other non-clan affiliated children in the Academy. The thought made Naruto scowl as he considered how slow his advancement in strength would be if he was paired with two of the lower class group of Genin. He highly doubted he'd be placed with a set of sub-par Genin. His skills, along with his marks were without a doubt the best, if not considered the best in the class, even over Sasuke, who was dubbed a Genius.

Naruto lay upon his side, facing the wall closet to his bed, which just so happened to touch the frame. His eyes were open, staring across the small gap to the lacklustre white which covered all the walls and the ceiling. His body tensed slightly as the pair of arm's which surrounded him tightened slightly. It had become routine, over the past few days for him to go to sleep, and wake up with Anko hugging him from behind him.

"You know you can't remain here forever." She murmured amusedly as she snuggled closer to his back.

Naruto's response to her obvious statement was to shrug lightly, and curl forward slightly, away from her, but it amounted to little as her hold upon his body tightened, and she herself, moved closer to him. After a few moments, Naruto's body began to slowly straighten out. Anko, smirked smugly as she nuzzled his back with her cheek before detaching from him.

"I'm serious, you need to get up and go to the Genin meet." Anko snapped lightly as she gently shook Naruto's shoulder.

An aggravated sigh escaped Naruto's lips as he rolled off his side and onto his back. Beside him Anko jumped off the bed in a single motion and smiled brightly down at Naruto. Naruto's eyes slid from the ceiling to Anko's face, he scowled lightly but never the less he slowly sat up and moved off of the bed. His eyes slid down from Anko's face to the ground, where her feet were seemingly touching.

"Anko…" Naruto said softly, never taking his eyes off her feet.

"Yes?" she said exasperatedly as she stared down at the top of his head.

"What exactly…" he began, before trailing off and tilting his head up until his eyes once again met with hers. "Are you?" he finished curiously.

Anko stared down at Naruto bemusedly before smiling lightly and reaching towards his face, she gently flicked his nose before tilting her head to the side. "It took you this long to ask?" she, herself questioned.

Naruto made a slight face and shook his head.

"No, I asked you in the hospital but I never got an answer." He said hotly, before slipping off of his bed and standing up directly in front of Anko.

Anko bit down upon her bottom lip before staring directly into Naruto's eyes. They both remained still, neither blinking as the impromptu staring contest took place. In a relatively short time Naruto's eyes began to water and he soon squinted, in effort to keep his eyes open. However his eyes could not remain open for much longer and soon they shuttered in an effort to moisten his pupils.

"Did you notice anything about my eyes, just then?" the purple haired girl asked in an amused voice.

Naruto's eyes once again focused upon Anko's. He stared into the lavender depths and searched in them. Although it was probably not the time, he took a moment to marvel at the design etched upon her iris, Instead of a spike-like pattern he had grown accustomed to seeing, her eyes were seemingly unblemished by any form, although if he looked hard enough he could see the beginning's of a pattern upon the deepest levels of the visible area.

After a few moments, Naruto conceded.

"I don't see anything peculiar except your iris." Naruto stated aggravated.

Anko sighed and placed her hands on her hips.

"You're joking right? What is my eye doing while you stare at it?" she asked exasperatedly.

Naruto snorted.

"It isn't doing anything at al-" Naruto began in the same tone as Anko had used upon him, before slowly trailing off. "Oh." He finished dumbly.

"You aren't blinking?" he half asked, half stated.

Anko smiled triumphantly and nodded.

"Can you figure the rest out?" she asked lazily before moving around Naruto and sitting down upon the bed, not making a single sound.

"Err…" Naruto mumbled blankly, before pressing his lips together.

Anko had not blinked the entire time he and she had been staring at each other. If she was able to keep her eyes open for as long as she wished then why didn't she? It'd be an obvious advantage in battle, perhaps she did do it, Naruto declared in his mind, before shaking the thought off.

She wasn't affected by anything, everything she touched seemed to phase through her. Which brought up two thought's to Naruto, why could she touch him, and why didn't she just sink into the ground. Naruto shook his head lightly and refocused on the original thought; Anko's Unblinking eyes.

All living things with eyes had to blink, it was to keep the quality of the eye and its abilities intact, without constant lubrication the pupil would become dry and begin to damage.

And then it hit Naruto.

All **living things** had to blink. **Living things** couldn't pass through matter as though it wasn't there. **Living things** were not permanently invisible to most people. A shiver raced down Naruto's spine as he glanced to Anko's eyes uncertainly.

"You're a ghost then?" he asked slowly, unconsciously leaning backwards.

A sadistic smirk blossomed upon Anko's lips as she stepped forwards, towards Naruto. "Mhm." she affirmed darkly, watching Naruto's face for signs of emotion. She had at first, expected him to be more then a little afraid of her. She had an inkling as to why; Beings which were forsaken by life could not be harmed. She wondered, if he was worried she was going to hurt him.

"Can you possess people and stuff?" Naruto said all of a sudden.

Anko's eyes widened slightly, before slowing shifting back to their original size.

"That… is an interesting question, I've never tried, to be honest, I wouldn't know how to go about it." She spoke thoughtfully, bringing her hand up from her hip to her chin. "The possibilities are interesting if I could pull that feat off, to be honest I usually try to avoid walking through people, it makes me feel weird, although that could perhaps be a way to… you know Possess them."

Naruto nodded lightly, not really caring for Anko's deliberation on his half hearted thought, after a few moments of half-listening to Anko's thought's on the idea, Naruto had a second epiphany.

"Wait, are you haunting me?" he asked accusingly.

Anko blinked a couple of times before glaring up at Naruto.

"No, of course not." She said bluntly.

Naruto watched as Anko stood up in front of him and granted him with a feral smile.

"It's decided! By the end of the day I'll have possessed someone, in fact, the first person we see I'll possess!" she declared exuberantly to Naruto.

Anko glowered slightly as a snort issued from Naruto's nose and he turned away from her.

"I'll hold you to that, hope it's an old fat guy." He said offhandedly as he walked into the bathroom and began his morning routine.

Anko seethed quietly and turned away from the directly Naruto had walked in; The Bathroom. Anko's ears faintly registered the sound of the shower being turned on, followed by a small sigh from Naruto. A Scowl formed upon Anko's lips as she stalked away from the blonde boy's location and towards the door of the department. Without a second thought she walked through the door frame and passed through the door. As her eyes stared out from Naruto's front door a malicious grin appeared upon Anko's lips, without hesitating for a second, she stepped forwards.

Back in the bathroom, Naruto had his eyes closed and had his head tilted backwards, allowing the water droplets to wash over his face. He barely registered the small murmurings of a voice beyond the walls of the room. He paid it little to no attention at all; it was probably Anko talking to herself. After a few minutes Naruto finally turned the water off and shook his head hard, sending his hair flying about his head, shaking off the water droplets which clang to the strands. Instead of walking out into the living space as he had usually done since before Anko had arrived, Naruto opted to dry himself within the relative privacy of the bathroom.

Conveniently, against the side of the bathroom hung a clean set of clothes, dry and waiting to be put to use. Quickly Naruto put on his undergarments which consisted of the usual underwear, and a special addition, a fish-net t-shirt courtesy of Yoshino. When Naruto had first seen Shikamaru wearing the shirt he had thought it was just the boys own personal statement, it turned out that Yoshino forced him to wear it. Naruto didn't **have** to wear it, but it was comfortable, and under his usual black shirt it was barely noticeable, providing a little more warmth, although it was rarely needed. Rather quickly Naruto slipped on his pants and grabbed one of the few Black T-shirts he had left.

He slipped his arms through the sleeves and gently kicked open the door with his foot; he slid the shirt up over his head just as he passed into the living area. Naruto's ears twitched as the floorboard creaked near his right, but he was a second too late. Two arms snaked around his body from his side, and a foot slid under his own, removing his footing and placing him solely under the support of the arms which were around him. Had he been able to see he perhaps could have managed the situation, but as it were he had no choice in the matter, and thus was slammed rather lightly, if he had to admit it, to the ground.

"Anko, is that you?" Naruto asked, his voice muffled by the fabric of his shirt.

A giggle answered him, along with a weight upon his stomach, which was accompanied by the feeling of knees digging into his sides. A second later a pair of semi-warm hands pressed against his arms and forced them backwards onto the ground, the one upon his left arm seemed to disappear, but soon it was obvious as to what it had been removed to do. A flood of light entered Naruto's vision as his shirt was lifted from in front of his head and slid behind, placing him in a rather crude shirt-induced hold.

Naruto blinked away the glare which had momentarily blinded him.

Who he saw didn't fill him with amusement at all.

Staring down at him, Haruno Sakura smiled innocently.

"Naruto-kun." She said happily.

"Haruno." Naruto grounded out through gritted teeth.

The malice in Naruto's voice was not lost on the pink haired girl. Instead of being put off by the negative emotion in his voice, her smile widened and she leaned down, placing her head just beyond Naruto's. Naruto couldn't help but smell her breath as it in soft flutters blew down upon him; her breath smelled of citrus. In a Non-Sakura manner she tilted her head to the side and smiled before speaking again.

"Uh, uh, uh." She said disapprovingly, shaking her head lightly.

Naruto glowered slightly and stared up defiantly into the green eyes which stared back down at him. He refused to blink; he refused to give even a breach of will to the girl who had intruded upon his property. It was then, as he stared up into Sakura's eyes that he noticed something different about her; her eyes weren't pure green, instead they were freckled with a purplish colour, those patches seemed to lack the intricacies of the green iris. Putting five and ten together Naruto came to a conclusion as he stretched the bonds of the T-shirt which was holding his arms in a restrained position.

"…Anko?" he asked softly.

If possible Sakura's grin got wider, which only confirmed Naruto's haphazard guess; Anko was one crazy girl. He had honestly not expected her to be able to gain a corporal body, much less someone in his class, or more specifically, the one girl who he didn't feel comfortable being in his immediate vicinity. Sakura… or rather Anko slowly removed herself from Naruto, much to both his relief and displeasure. Relief, in that she was moving off him and Displeasure in the fact that she on purpose, took the longest amount of time she could. After what seemed like five minutes, which in reality it almost was, Anko removed herself completely from Naruto and allowed him to put his shirt on properly and stand up.

"So how did you possess her, and more importantly how did you get to her house, possess the girl and get back in that small amount of time?" Naruto asked curiously.

While getting over to Sakura's place it wouldn't have been hard for Anko, all she would have to do is run in a direct line. But getting back would require a little more effort, not to mention the fact she'd have to work out _how_ to possess her before leaving.

"Eh, she was outside your door." Anko said nonchalantly as she waved her hand in front of Naruto's face dismissively.

"Got any Dango?" she asked suddenly, before pausing. "No you don't, let's go get some."

Without waiting for Naruto's input she grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the door separating them from the outside of Naruto's home. Naruto didn't resist, his mind was still trying to process the fact that Anko had taken possession of Sakura's body. He stared at the side of her head and took on a thoughtful look.

While he didn't exactly like Sakura, he wished no ill will upon the girl, but her attitude towards life caused him no little amount of confusion. She had chosen to live the life of a Shinobi, yet if the average person looked at her lifestyle they'd think she was an average girl, going to a civilian school. From one of Ino's many Tortu- Chat sessions, he had gleaned some information about Sakura. A highly interesting piece was that Sakura had not ever even thought of the ninja lifestyle, until she had mentioned that she, like her father before her, was being sent to the Academy.

Haruno Sakura wasn't a lot of things to Naruto. But one of the things he'd never ignore was the fact that the girl had one hell of a brain. Sadly her higher then average mental abilities were focused on mundane things, only text-book related. If it were applied to certain other aspects of her life, she'd become amazing.

Naruto was soon dragged out of his thoughts as Anko suddenly yanked on his arm and came to a stop, causing him to almost crash into her, but he caught himself in time. Naruto stared at the sign in front of the shop and gulped lightly. She had brought him to a small establishment, but a rather obscure one. A Dango shop he had been going to since he was around five years old. A small smile appeared on Naruto's lips as he saw the gleam in the eyes of the girl next to him. Another tug upon his arm and his ear was brought down to her lips.

"Give me some money, would you?" she asked pleadingly.

Naruto could only nod a single time before his pockets were pillaged by the energetic girl and his money was taken, to purchase some Dango. A few minutes later, Naruto found himself sitting across from the same girl, watching her ever so slowly eat her way through a dozen sticks of Dango; she was up to her third one. He hungrily watched as she consumed them, bite by bite. It wasn't long before he couldn't hold his hand back, and it of partially its own accord found its way to the stack of Dango sitting on the middle of the table.

It was only Naruto's quicker than the average Genin reflexes which allowed him to avoid the skewer which Anko tried to stake his hand to the table with. The murderous glint in Sakura's normally peaceful and bliss coated eyes was enough to deter him from trying to eat any of the Dango Anko had purchased with his money. Five minutes later a sulking Naruto watched as the female across from his sucked the final remnants of the Dango from the last skewer. A content sigh escaped from the possessed girl's mouth as she slouched backwards and stared across at Naruto.

"That was rather satisfying." She murmured softly.

"I'm surprised you can keep it all down." stated Naruto bemusedly.

Anko simply shrugged lightly before wincing and grabbing the side of her head. Naruto snorted as he witnessed the action.

"I guess you can't keep it all down?" he asked softly and leaned backwards.

A grimace appeared on the face of the pink haired girl, before she shook her head.

"No, that isn't it, my head hurt's, like something's fighting against me" she whined out softly.

A frown appeared on Naruto's lips as he watched Sakura's body convulse lightly and an ethereal glow surround her. A snort escaped his nose as he nodded to himself thoughtfully.

"Seems like Sakura has a stronger will then I had first assumed." He stated critically.

A low growl issued from the pink haired girl's mouth.

"Dammit, I like this body! It's in good shape, albeit not as good as mine but still!" she said sullenly before going silent and remaining still.

Naruto watched fascinated as the ethereal aura surrounding Sakura's body fluctuated, sometimes growing bigger, other times shrinking almost completely back into the pink haired girls body. After a while the ethereal aura seemed to become tired and was completely ejected, reforming into Anko's body behind Sakura. Naruto ignored the seemingly endless string of curses issuing from Anko's mouth and focused worriedly upon the girl sitting down opposite him.

The girl's eyes were slowly blinking and shifting around, until they came to rest upon Naruto. The first thing Naruto noticed about them, was that like when Anko had been occupying the pink haired girl's body, there was a slight discolouration, this time however; they were freckled with red, more obviously then they had been with purple.

"This is… surprising." She stated slowly.

"Would you have something to do with this situation, Naruto-kun?" she asked calmly, leaning forwards.

"What if I did?" he asked lowly.

He had no idea what had happened to make Sakura act so peculiar, but he didn't doubt that the look upon her face was connected to it. Unlike prior, Sakura's words seem rather straight forward and were not befuddled as usual. It worried him slightly; He had a feeling that Anko had messed around with the girl's head a bit too much. He had wholly expected her eyes to go back to normal. Instead they along with the gained red had kept the murderous glint. But instead of being directed entirely at him it seemed to be an underlying thing.

"If you did…" she trailed off huskily.

Naruto had almost no time to react. Sakura dived head first at him over the table and knocked him backwards off his chair. Unfortunately for Sakura, Naruto was still too quick for her to gain the advantage. Instead of allowing Sakura's hands to find their way, he grasped her wrists and held them tightly. A sadistic smile to rival Anko's appeared on her lips as she with, what Naruto assumed to be her full strength, pushed down upon him and tried to free her wrists. After a few minutes of struggling against Naruto's superior strength Sakura collapsed down against him.

"No fair…you meanie." She mumbled as she laid her head down on his chest.

All Naruto could do was stared down at the top of Sakura's head and occasionally blink. After a moment or two he finally regained enough sense to put his thoughts into spoken word.

"What the hell were you trying to do?" he snapped.

Sakura slowly tilted her head upwards and smiled sheepishly at the boy under her.

"I was just trying to give you a hug." She murmured softly, before snuggling down against him.

Naruto violently twitched as he resisted the urge to push the girl atop of him violently off. Beyond the table, Anko had finally recovered from the shock induced from being forcefully ejected from the Pink haired girl's body. Naruto could see, just by glancing at her face, that she was itching to get back into Sakura's body. A single warning glance over Sakura's head to the ethereal Anko halted any idea's she had of taking over Sakura's body again, for the moment.

"You seem rather…" Naruto began slowly, before having his voice overridden by Sakura's.

"Energetic, Beautiful, Lively, Nice, Cute?" she spouted off in under two seconds, much to Naruto's surprise.

"Energetic would fit." Naruto said through a strangled voice.

He had gone along with the nice act long enough. With a single push, Naruto removed Sakura from his body, and displaced her onto the ground next to him. He ignored the grumbled which escaped her mouth at being forced off him. He didn't really care that he was more comfortable than the ground. It was obvious that he had been too nice, if she felt that she could take concessions at his expense. Slowly beside him Sakura rose up and dusted off the lower part of her dress. She had a guarded expression on her face as she regarded him. At first she seemed like she was about to say something, but her lips quickly sealed themselves shut again.

Behind him, Naruto could hear the rhythmic tap of someone's shoe against the ground. A quick glance over his shoulder showed him the owner of the establishment sporting a stern, annoyed look upon their face. Without hesitating, Naruto turned around and bowed deeply to the proprietor and apologised. As he expected, they accepted it without too much difficulty, the majority of the owner's annoyance seemed to be centred on Sakura, which meant Naruto had no obligation to help either way.

Without glancing at the pink haired girl, Naruto turned upon the ball of his right foot and began walking out of the building. Unbeknownst to anyone but him, Anko had moved to his side and began walking with him.

"That was rather mean of you." She stated sourly, glancing back at the pink haired girl, who seemed to be at a loss at what to do.

Naruto didn't say anything, he couldn't, it'd appear as if he were talking to himself, which was a thing he did not need to be a reference to in Konoha.

"You should g back and smooth things over, I want to use that body some more, and I can't if you her ruin it's reputation." Anko complained, before pausing and thinking.

"Actually, you really should talk to her a bit, I think I messed something up in her head, or something was already messed up." She said slyly, glancing over to Naruto.

Naruto faltered in mid-step. The idea that Anko had messed with anyone's head, much less someone he could be working with for the next few years was a troubling thought. In the distance behind the, Naruto could have sworn he heard a crash, but he made little to no attention to it. He supposed it didn't matter if Anko would take control of the pink haired girl's body every time she was near them. Although, it could be quite troublesome if she recalled every second in which Anko had possessed her. From the situation prior, Naruto wasn't exactly sure what to think. She had not reacted either way, hinting to neither the fact she recalled the past time before Anko, or she was missing it.

While it would be preferable to find out, it wasn't very practical, it could work against him.

"Narruuttoo-kuuunnn" called out a sing-along voice behind him, causing him no small amount of annoyance.

Instead of turning around to the source of the voice, Naruto continued to walk. A few seconds later a pink head of hair appeared at his side. Within a second, his arm had been clung to, and the pink haired girl was nestled at his side, smiling. A scowl appeared on Naruto's face as he yanked his arm out of the girl's grip. The action caused a frown to appear on Sakura's face.

"That wasn't very nice." She said hotly. "First you ditch me at the restaurant and ruin our date, and now you won't even let me touch." She said sourly, as she tried to once again stake her claim on his arm.

"It wasn't a date." Naruto snapped and shrugged her attempts off.

Sakura seemed to shrink into herself at Naruto's point-blank denial of the 'date'

"What was it then?" she asked softly as she turned her gaze from his face to the ground.

Naruto breathed slowly as he continued walking forward. What could he tell her; that she had been possessed by the ghost of a girl who he knew, and that the ghost wanted to eat some dango? He didn't exactly think that it would be the best explanation.

"We were just hanging out." Naruto explained away lamely.

"Oh really?" Sakura asked dangerously as she glared at the side of Naruto's head. "So you'll hang out with me but not let me touch you in the least intimate of ways?"

Naruto shrugged lightly.

Sakura had, unknowingly answered the question Naruto had been thinking about. She was not exactly sure what had happened, which meant that she didn't recall any events during Anko's time in her body, or at least that is what he assumed.

"Oi, Naruto, do exactly what I tell you to." Anko demanded lightly.

Following Anko's instructions; Naruto stopped walking and stared into Sakura's eyes. She immediately stopped and faced Naruto, staring up at him half way between anger and confusion. Naruto lifted his hand up and gently caressed her cheek with his finger tips, before leaning in and placing his lips next to her ear.

"If you want a date from me." He said softly, as he brushed his lips against her ear, "Get stronger." He said harshly and moved away from her quickly, and began walking away from her.

Beside him, Anko clapped.

"Bravo! That was awesome, you played the part perfectly." She complimented him.

Had Naruto looked behind him, he would have seen Sakura's fists clenched and the confusion on her face gone, replaced with anger. Anko smirked to herself as she watched the pink-haired Kunochi have an inner battle with herself. Her cheeks were stained red, from anger or embarrassment, Anko couldn't tell, nor did she really care. All she cared about was that she _did_ get stronger.

Physically, not mentally; Anko's head still throbbed slightly from the forceful ejection she suffered at Sakura's whim. Her physical strength wasn't that high, if what Anko felt was any inclination, when she had possessed her. She had revelled at the feeling of Chakra circulating through her, even if it wasn't her Chakra it was still Chakra, the essence of life. She had been tempted to try out some of her old techniques. But from what she could feel inside the pink-haired girl's body it lacked the necessary Chakra to preform them without dying.

But that matter would be left to fix itself. From what Anko had glanced from the pink haired girl's personality, she had the work ethic to become stronger. Now she had the drive, even if it was for all the wrong reasons, the wrong reason being just to get a date. Now all that stood in the way of the pink haired girl and strength was a good teacher. But- Anko couldn't be bothered trying to get her one.

Naruto inwardly smiled at the praise from the purple haired girl. If what he knew about the pink haired girl's personality, she wouldn't bother him soon, or at least until she was assured of her own strength. Sakura was the least of his concerns; He still had to decide if it was worth using the techniques he had learned from the Forbidden scroll. However, the other two scrolls however, he knew he was free to use. Although the stronger techniques requires enough Chakra to leave him exhausted, far too exhausted to fight on the same level as he would as if he were completely rested. But that didn't matter; he had a way to get around the exhaustion he would fall to if he used them in battle. A sly grin appeared on his lips as his finger's trailed over a secondary pouch upon his hip, which was overly full. Naruto lightly sniffed the air and paused. The scent of flowers was filling the air, which caused no small amount of concern for him. There were few flower shops in Konoha, and he knew only one in the part of the village he was in.

He just so happened to stumble across it a few nights ago. He had no doubt a certain blonde haired Kunochi was rather angry with him. Being in such a close proximity to her living quarters was no doubt healthy for him. Had the situation been reversed he would have been more then a little annoyed. Now that he thought about it; whenever he was in the vicinity of her home Ino seemed to be aware of his presence. It was rather disturbing, truth be told. But for the first time on the street in front of Ino's house his luck held out, and he passed by undetected by the blonde.

It wasn't long before Naruto was sitting inside the Academy's walls, waiting for the majority of his graduated class to enter the room along with their teacher; Iruka. Uchiha Sasuke was sitting to the side of the room, staring absentmindedly at the window to the opposite side of the room. Aburame Shino was sitting in the back corner, motionless. Occasionally, Naruto could swear he heard a slight scuttle, but besides that no signs of life came from the boy. Anko was sitting in front of him, on the desk, swinging her legs back and forth.

"This is boring." Anko complained.

All Naruto could do was listen to her, and not allow any reaction to her words.

"We should have stayed with that Sakura girl, at least she was interesting, and I could have another shot at her body." She continued to complain, well aware of the mental grief she was placing on Naruto. The fact that every word she spoke caused Naruto's fists to tighten ever so slightly only added to the enjoyment she found at his expense.

It wasn't long before the newly graduated Genins began to pile into the room. One by one they entered the room and took their usual seats. Throughout the classroom entire benches were left unfilled, a sign that the people who sat there failed the exam. It wasn't long before Iruka entered the room, which was well after the classroom was filled with children sporting forehead protectors. Amongst the students, Naruto took note of a single person missing, a certain pink haired girl he had been with in the morning.

As if on cue, the door of the classroom slammed open and in stepped Haruno Sakura. Naruto instantly took note of the fact that she looked like she had been through a battlefield. Although the idea was disregarded rather quickly, his eyes found their face to Sakura's hands, which, to his surprise were rather red. Naruto's eyes flickered up to Sakura's just in time to see her eyes stare at him. At the moment their eyes met, Sakura turned her head away defiantly, and began stalking up the isles to a free bench.

A series of whispers flew around the class between friends. The subject of the whispers was, of course, the girl who had just entered the room and disrupted the subdued atmosphere. From the opposite side of the room Ino stood up and quietly, almost, dare Naruto say it, stealthily made her way to Sakura's side.

Naruto snorted lightly. Ino's caring side rarely showed its head, and because of his words to Sakura it seemed it showed up at the most unexpected time. Naruto disregarded the two Kunochi as Iruka cleared his throat in the front of the room.

"I'm sorry for making you all wait, but I shall now designate you to your teams." Iruka said, sparing Sakura a mild glare.

With that Iruka brought up a small board and placed it in front of him. Naruto, at that point tuned out. If he heard any names which he recalled being note-worthy, then he would pay attention, instead for the moment, he chose to watch Anko make faces in front of Iruka. A snort almost escaped him, but he held it back just in time. Next to him, however, Shikamaru raised his eyebrow.

"Team Six Shall be composed of..." Iruka trailed off as she flipped one of the few pieces of paper attached to the clip-board over. "Ah, Uchiha Sasuke, Hyuuga Hinata and… Err, Inuzuka Kiba; you have been assigned to Hatake Kakashi." He finished in a state of less than desired clarity.

Iruka shook his head and continued.

"What do you think that was about?" Chouji asked Shikamaru, from next to him.

Shikamaru could only shrug.

Naruto however, had at least a small bit of input to the question.

"Maybe he thought Kiba would be on a different team?" stated Naruto softly, before turning his attention back to the front.

A small smirk appeared on his face as he watched Anko turn away from Iruka in frustration. It seemed she had gotten bored with making faces at Iruka. She seemed to gain a predatory glint in her eye as she regarded the people in the room. Naruto stared at her worriedly; He wouldn't put it past her to possess a random person and continue doing what she had been doing to Iruka.

"Team Seven will have… Haruno Sakura, Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji on it. You've been assigned to Yuuhi Kurenai." He stated aloud.

Naruto took note of the fact that Iruka's brow had been furrowed when he had finished.

"That's not cool." Shikamaru muttered lazily, as he straightened up from his slouching position. Next to him Chouji nodded his assent. Naruto could only agree; He had really wanted to be on their team. He supposed it had been a fool's hope; there had never been a team which had consisted of a single gender.

"Hey, at least you both are together, I'll probably get stuck with Ino." Naruto joked lightly.

Shikamaru snorted and shook his head.

"You shouldn't joke about that, just watch what's going to happen now." He murmured blandly. As if by some unholy decree from the netherworlds, Ino's name rang out through the classroom.

"Yamanaka Ino, Aburame Shino and Uzumaki Naruto, you three are assigned to…This has to be some mistake." Iruka threw the board down to his desk. "Please everyone wait here, I need to go and talk to someone about the team choices."

"That was a rather good surprise wasn't it Naruto-kun?" a feminine voice whispered from behind Naruto.

Naruto could only nod as Ino's arms snaked around his neck and loosely hugged him.

"Leave him alone Ino, you have the rest of your career to annoy him." Shikamaru said uncharacteristically. Naruto raised an eyebrow at Shikamaru's words; normally telling off Ino was too troublesome for him. A Grimace soon followed up after as Ino's hug's intensity increased and put a large amount of pressure on his neck. However, it was soon to let up as Ino turned her anger upon Shikamaru, much to Naruto's relief and Shikamaru's dismay

The Nara could only sigh as Ino's tirade began. He suddenly remembered why he did not speak up to Ino often. The Tirade would continue unrelenting until Iruka would enter the room again, looking more worn out then Naruto had seen him, ever.

"As I was saying, Ino, Naruto, Shino, you three will be assigned to Morino Ibiki." Iruka said weakly.

Anko, who had been staring out the window thoughtlessly up until then suddenly had her full attention focused upon Iruka. Naruto took full notice of the fact it had been at his newly appointed Jounin-sensei's name that she paid attention. He filed that information away for later use. The rest of the team's, Naruto paid zero attention to. While he was sure that in the future they could become noteworthy, none of them were affiliated with any clan, thus they were below his notice. He was still basking in the fact that he had not been placed with no-name Genin, and instead had been saddled with both Ino and Shino.

A frown played upon his lips as his newly appointed team-mates names resounding in his mind in quick succession, leaving him feeling bemused at the fact that they had the same ending sound. The bottom of his stomach seemed to drop out as he realised that his own name; Naruto also ending with the same letter, and thus sound. Someone had a cruel sense of humour, Naruto decided.

As the last of the team's were called out the Jounin sensei's began to arrive and take their teams away. Naruto took note that most of them looked generic in appearance, except for Yuuhi Kurenai. His eyes met the Female Jounin's for a moment, before she, on purpose looked away. But the small glance into the woman's eyes was all he needed. Surprisingly, her eyes were red, almost the exact same shade of red as the freckles in Sakura's eyes.

A tap on his shoulder drew Naruto's attention away from the front of the classroom.

"Naruto…kun." Said Sakura softly, drawing his attention to her face.

"You said… if I got stronger you'd date me right?" she asked hesitantly.

Naruto could only nod.

"Then, when I see you next, you better be ready to go out." She said confidently, completely inverting her personality in a split second.

Naruto snorted lightly.

"Alright, but be warned, if you can't at least give me a challenge you won't get a date." Naruto stated mockingly.

Sakura's eyes narrowed, but she didn't say anything; instead she nodded to the blonde haired boy and began to make her way down the rows of benches and to the door, where her Sensei was waiting, along with Shikamaru and Chouji. Kurenai, once again gifted him with a look, but instead of being open as it had been prior, she gave him a guarded analytical look. It didn't take long for Kurenai to look away.

Soon all that was left was Team Seven and Team Nine; Naruto's team.

"So, what's going on between you and Sakura?" Ino asked as she slipped into the seat next to Naruto and nudged his side.

"Nothing." stated Naruto as if it were obvious.

"Oh really, I could have sworn you just said you'd go out with her if she impressed you." Ino said innocently.

"So? She needed a reason to get stronger, so I gave her one." Naruto said defensively.

Ino seemed to nod to herself, before her lips formed into a devious smirk.

"So If I impress the Great Uzumaki Naruto as well, do I get a date?" she asked mockingly.

Naruto just chuckled to himself softly and nodded.

"Alright, same deal for you." He agreed bemusedly.

The door to the classroom suddenly slammed open and a gigantic man stepped through the doorway. Naruto was instantly put on guard. The moment his eyes landed on the face of the man they were drawn along to the scars which decorated his face. Naruto quickly dropped the emotions from his face as he stared across to the man. He was dressed in a long black coat beneath it, he seemed to wear a dark vest, but beyond that, Naruto couldn't tell.

"Team Nine, come with me, **now**." He snarled out.

Out of the three Genin who had been chosen to be a part of Team Nine, Ino showed the most emotion to the new comer, who they could only assume was Ibiki Morino. Naruto himself was forced to show a little apprehension to the older, larger, scarred man. Shino however seemed to lack any reaction to the man, or so it would seem, but Naruto's ears were able to pick up a trace amount of buzzing coming from Shino.

The boy's bugs were going crazy it seemed.

Without hesitating, much, the three Genin walked out of the room, following their new Sensei, leaving Team seven as the last team in the room. A little behind them, Anko followed, her face guarded as she stared at the backs of Ibiki and the Genins heads.


	6. Missions and Messes

**So anyway, I was talking to my friend DarkSyaoran ( Go check his profile now ) and I was all like "Hey, Beta this for me!" and he was like " Ok." So Yeah, first beta'ed chapter, let's all thank Mr Syaoran for making life alot more bearable for you guys. I don't have much to say right now, although I have to, without a doubt thank everyone who reviewed when I (like an ass) asked them to. You guy's know who you are! The one's who make it a good choice to write! Huzzah!**

**Jon**

* * *

Naruto stared at the back of his newly appointed Sensei's head. Beside him both Yamanaka Ino and Aburame Shino walked. A small glance to Ino told him that she was not exactly certain about how to act around the older, scarred man. Naruto didn't even need to look to Shino to know how he felt, although looking would not have done much. With the Aburame, the only way to decipher their emotions was to listen. Within them, the bug hives which infested their body were attuned to the host's emotions. The low buzzing emanating from Shino was enough to tell Naruto that the brown haired boy was anxious.

Naruto's eyes soon found their way to the back of the newly appointed sensei again. He was, for lack of a better word, worried. He hadn't recognised the name Morino Ibiki straight away, but after a few minutes of listing off the place he would have read it from, he came to a final sector in the possible places he could have been situated, and then it clicked. Morino Ibiki was a Special Jounin, and Konoha's Interrogation and Information retrieval expert, or more precisely, Konoha's number one **torture** specialist. With that piece of information in his head, Naruto was not sure whether to be excited or, as he was, worried.

The worry seemed to stem from the fact that his ghostly partner had not as much spoken a word to him since they had left the classroom. It was disconcerting to Naruto, since she had not stopped talking to him since he had met her, or re-met her, as she referred to it. Although he doubted it was anything major, he still felt troubled. Not being one to dwell on things he could not comprehend, Naruto turned his mind to the near future, where he, and his team-mates, as he expected, would be given a final trial for the Genin exam. If he were to assume correctly, this was the first time Ibiki had been given a team. The conclusion came from the fact that Iruka had been unprepared for Ibiki's name to come up on the team roster.

"Naruto-kun?" asked a voice from Naruto's right, causing him to shift his eyes, and mind away from their singular fascination.

Ino stood next to him, quite close in fact, that there was a complete lack of personal space between them, emphasised by the fact her face was an inch away from his ear. Naruto turned his head to the right, to face her and flinched lightly as her nose brushed up against him, causing Ino no small amount of amusement.

"Yes?" asked Naruto confusedly as be furrowed his brow.

"About time! I was trying to get your attention for a few minutes." She said hotly, folding her arms over her chest.

Naruto simply tilted his head to the side and continued to look to her, waiting for her to continue.

"What do you think of him?" she asked, as she glanced to the back of Ibiki's head, just as Naruto had been staring, before.

"His name is Morino Ibiki, he is the he-"

"Uzumaki Naruto, it would be wise to hold your tongue, and not relinquish information without proper reason." said Ibiki calmly, as he turned his head to Naruto and Ino, enough to give a warning glare out of the corner of his eye, to them both.

Ino shied away instantly, while Naruto just stared blankly into Ibiki's single showing eye. He had a quip at the tip of his tongue, ready to be flung towards the Jounin at an instant, but he held it tightly. If Ibiki took note of it, Naruto was sure he'd regret it later.

"Here should be adequate" said Ibiki as he surveyed the area around him.

It was a decent spot, Naruto came to the conclusion as he followed Ibiki's line of sight. As far as he could see, there was nothing but tree's in the distance, but behind them there was a small grouping of tree's, hiding the entrance from the view of the public. As Naruto peaked through the opening, he was surprised to find the rural side of Konoha just beyond. Part of the surprise came from the fact that he had never found it, especially because his apartment was literally within his sight.

"Now that we are out of the public eye and ear, I'd like to congratulate you three for passing your Genin exam. Against the wishes of the other Jounin- instructors, I've decided to skip the usual introductory routine, as I'm sure we shall get to know each other over the next few years quite well." said Ibiki blandly as he stared down at the three Genin around him.

This drew Naruto's attention away from the scenery, along with Ino's and subsequently the full of Shino's attention.

"I have faith in your skills, as you were allowed to become Genin, so I will move straight into the meat of your chosen career. This morning I took an A rank mission for you three to complete. Normally you would not get one for quite a while, until you were Chuunin in fact, but this one is simple enough, simple enough in fact, that I'll be leaving it to you three to complete it, and I will be supervising."

Ibiki paused for a moment and slid his hand under his coat, a second later the ripping sound of Velcro being separated filled the area, and Ibiki withdrew a scroll from the shadows underneath his coat. He pressed down upon the wax seal which kept the seal tightly bound, and allowed to it unravel, before flipping it over, to show the three Genin in front of him the contents.

"As you can see, this mission is quite simple; we will be tracking down a prison escapee, and bringing him back, hopefully in one piece. The target is a man named Yaki The Chakra Devourer, as you can probably guess by his name, has an ability to eat chakra. I was allowed to receive this mission for us, because each of you has a trait which will allow this mission to go by with a lot more ease then most of the other teams currently.

Shino, as an Aburame, your insects have the ability to sense chakra, and have a high chance at detecting the target before we come into contact with him, and thus the ability to give us the element of surprise. Along with virtually the same ability as the target; being able to drain chakra from a target.

Ino, like your father before you, who I have had the honour of working with, you have your families techniques, which are invisible to the naked eye, and unless the target is expecting them, unavoidable. With those, we shall be able to capture the target without any conflict arising between the target and you three." Ibiki explained as he rolled up the scroll again, and placed it back where-ever it was before he had removed it.

"Excuse me, Ibiki-sensei, but what about Naruto?" Ino asked innocently, as she let a small smug smile slide onto her lips. "What is he good for?"

Ibiki's mouth twitched lightly, before he chuckled darkly.

"His role in the coming mission will be making sure that if you fail, you don't die and the mission succeeds." he explained casually.

Ino stiffened for a moment, before relaxing and scowling at Naruto, who had adopted a smug look upon his face, not unlike the one she had been wearing moments before. Ino let out a soft 'humph', before she turned away from Naruto and Ibiki.

"Well, when do we go?" she asked snappishly.

"We leave right now!" Ibiki said merrily, as he gifted the three Genin with a smile.

Neither Naruto, nor Ino would admit it, but the simple smile from their newly appointed sensei disturbed them, more then his harsh tone had before.

"You know, I think you'll enjoy being under Ibiki's tutorage." whispered a voice into Naruto's ear.

Naruto didn't react to the voice, but on the inside he was relieved. Anko's voice was as comforting as it had been abrupt. Without missing a beat Naruto began to follow after Ibiki, who had begun to walk away, towards, if Naruto guessed correctly, the main gates of Konoha. The only thing that anyone would have been able to see that had changed in the few moments was the smile which was hidden upon Naruto's lips.

The silence between the members of the newly formed team was becoming unbearable, in Naruto's eyes. He was half tempted to strike up a conversation with Ino, but he was still slightly annoyed at her perceiving the idea that she was worth more then he was. Despite her having a clan to her name, he was still stronger then her, as she had wasted a lot of her time, where as he had used every moment of his to it's fullest. Or rather, that had been the case; since he had met Anko he really couldn't claim that, she had caused him to forgo his routine of training. But he felt that the few days that were lost didn't matter much in the long run.

With Ino out of the picture for conversation, that left Ibiki and Shino. The later was very hard to get into conversation with, as Naruto had found out time and time again. Once, in the academy, he had seen Kiba try to get a rise out of Shino, he had even gone as far as to crush a bug in front of Shino. The act wasn't taken as a joke from Shino, and he had set his bugs loose upon Kiba.

It was obvious that they were not going to harm Kiba, despite the boy's screams that they were eating him alive. Shino was devoid of basic human emotion, but the higher echelons of emotions were still present, such as self-righteous anger.

"So, Shino, found any cool bugs?" Naruto asked casually as he moved up from behind the group to Shino's side. He pointedly ignored the huff from Ino as he ignored her, in favour of the glass-wearing boy.

"I have been unable to locate any new species of bugs, nor have I bee able to find any recorded bugs which are relatable to the term 'cool'." said Shino mechanically, as he turned his head towards Naruto. "Have you been able to procure any new texts to further your capacity in Ninjutsu, Genjutsu or Taijutsu?" Shino questioned Naruto back.

Naruto blinked a single time, before chuckling and shaking his head.

"No, I haven't had time to research anything lately. Although a weird thing happened the other night and well… the Sandaime told me I wasn't to speak of it." Naruto explained.

He bit down upon his tongue, in a slight punishment; He had almost spilled the truth of what had happened between Mizuki and himself. It was unlikely Shino would have mentioned it to anyone, but Ibiki wasn't that far away, and they were walking through a crowded street, filled with people who were glaring at him covertly. People, who would give their left arm to get him in any kind of trouble.

"Why do you exert such malevolent intentions from the populace?" Shino asked calmly, as he, along side Naruto, walked by a group of elderly men and women, who had fallen silent the moment that Naruto had come close to them.

"I just found out myself not that long ago… But I'm not at liberty to say why, I'm not exactly comfortable with the reason, I can say that the hate isn't earned by me though." Naruto said as he began to pick up his pace.

While Shino had noticed easily, Ino had yet to take note of the glares being directed their way, and if he had anything to do with it she wouldn't ever, if not for a very long time.

"You should make an example of one of them, you know? Like crucify them on the Hokage Monument. That isn't something they'd forget very easily. And it'd be pretty poetic, especially if you did it below the Fourth's face, and wrote something below it, like 'Don't try and crucify me, or I'll do the same to you.' It'd make them scared as hell, they'd stop it entirely!" Anko exclaimed.

'_Yeah, and I'd get in a lot of trouble, and probably be sent to jail or something for killing a civilian.'_ thought Naruto

He nodded lightly to Shino, before picking up his speed again, and walking beside Ino.

"You look a little nervous." said Naruto into Ino's ear.

He took no little amount of satisfaction as he watched Ino flinch away from his voice, before she turned her head towards him and glared. The glare, however, wasn't held for very long, as in her state Ino couldn't exactly look menacing, when she was one step away from chewing on her finger nails as a release for the anxiety.

"Who wouldn't be?" Ino demanded to know as she switched her eyes from Naruto, back to the path in front of them.

"Shino." Naruto said simply.

"What?" Ino asked confusedly, sparing Naruto a second unsure glance.

"Shino wouldn't be nervous, in fact, he isn't at all." explained Naruto, with a glance back to Shino, which went along with a smile upon Naruto's part.

"Well, I'm not bug-boy am I?" snapped Ino, before she pouted. "I wanted to have a big mission as my first one, but my dad said I'd probably have to weed a garden or paint a house, or something boring like that, and now that the first mission is something which depends on me!" she said troubled. "I'm not so sure of myself now."

Naruto frowned; he hadn't expected Ino to be nervous about the mission, or about anything for that matter. It was to be expected, she was just a child after all. But then, so was he. Shouldn't he be nervous? The team he had practiced with had gone on lots of C and B missions near the end of the time he had spent with them, and every time they had gotten back they looked a lot worse for wear.

"That doesn't sound like the Yamanaka Ino I know and love." Naruto said with a frown. "I have all the faith in the world in you, we both know you'll be the reason we succeed." he finished, and gave Ino's shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "And on the off chance it doesn't go as we want it to, I'll be there to protect you."

The nervousness that was in Ino's eyes had vanished.

"You love me?" she asked perplexed.

Naruto blinked a few times, before he realized what he had said, a soft blush appeared on his cheeks for a moment, before he let loose a half-heartedly laugh.

"What I meant wa-"

"You love me!" she exclaimed with a small smile.

"No I don't!" snapped Naruto.

The gleeful look on Ino's face fell as quickly as it had risen.

"You don't love me?" she whispered softly, and stopped walking. Her gaze fell from Naruto's to the ground, and her shoulders slumped.

Naruto's heart lurched at the sight.

"I didn't mean- I-"

"I'm just kidding you big idiot." she exclaimed as she straightened up.

She gave Naruto a reassuring slap upon the arm and laughed. All Naruto could do was laugh along with Ino. Relief flooded through his system quickly.

Naruto's walk slowed down slightly, while Ino's continued at the same pace, her step had a noticeable bounce in it, unlike before when she had seemed to be on a death march. Soon enough, Shino was walking at his side again.

"No matter what you do, you will currently fail at courting Yamanaka Ino, she has no hormone imbalance currently, and you are not releasing any pheromones. It would be wise to wait until both of the lacking elements become filled before trying to mate with her again." Shino said calmly as his head turned to face Naruto.

Naruto stared into Shino's glasses perplexed, as Ino had stared at him moments before. His mind seemed to have shut down as it tried to comprehend what Shino had been saying. Once it had completely understood what Shino had said, Naruto laughed. An awkward laugh it was, but a laugh no less.

"You've got it wrong Shino, I'm not-I didn't try to..." Naruto tried to explain, but failed to.

He shook his head, and focused upon the up coming event.

"Neither you nor Ino have to worry, I'll protect both of you from the chakra eating freak, even if we fail the mission." declared Naruto virtuously, hoping to remove any anxiety either of his team-mates were feeling, and get Shino's last words out of his head.

Shino's left eyebrow twitched slightly. He probably took slight offence at the 'chakra eating freak' remark, as the target closely matched his bug's abilities.

"No, you won't." Ibiki said suddenly as he stopped walking. Slowly Ibiki turned around and faced Naruto, his eyes stared down at Naruto as if evaluating him and his declaration.

"The mission is your first priority, everything else is second, your life, your team-mates life's, everything. There will come a time in your life when you will have to choose between your life, and your friends, and the mission. And if the mission is vital to Konoha, and you choose to save the lives of your friends instead of completing the mission, you may cost Konoha hundred's of lives, just because you valued their lives above Konoha as a whole." he said angrily.

Naruto didn't move a muscle, nor did anyone else besides Ibiki.

"But- this mission isn't vital to Konoha, and if you fail it, then I'll intervene, but know now, over-all your lives mean little individually, but together, to Konoha they mean the world." he finished, sincerely.

"More reason to keep them alive, or else they're useless." said Naruto quietly as he turned his gaze down from Ibiki's. He missed the emotion that passed through the older man's eyes.

"Later on in your life, if you survive long enough, you'll come to understand what I said just now." he said coldly.

Naruto had nothing else to say, and so he didn't. Ibiki made use of the silence.

"Now we have to hurry, the longer we wait, the further away the fugitive will go, I allowed you a leisurely pace up until now, because the target is malnourished, while you three are properly fed, even with the handicap on the target, if he is able to find a target to drain of chakra, our mission will become a lot harder. Now let's move out." he said with a tone of finality, and before any of them could breath, he had turned around, and motioned for the three newly appointed Genin to follow him.

A minute later, Naruto was thanking his lucky stars that the Sandaime had placed him with a team to practice with early on. The speed that Ibiki had them moving at was nothing to be laughed at, while he felt a slight strain on his muscles, and was sweating slightly, Shino and Ino were definitely worse off, the shimmer on their brow was heavy.

"Can we slow down a bit ple-?" yelled out Ino pleadingly to Ibiki, only for her voice to be drowned out by Shino's.

"There is a presence fifty meter's in front of us. It is currently latent."

"English, please?" asked Naruto exasperatedly.

Shino arched an eyebrow at Naruto, before speaking again.

"The target is resting fifty meter's that way." he said, pointing forwards, in the direction that they were running.

Without much warning, Ibiki came to a complete stop. Leaving the three Genin behind him only a fraction of a second to stop, before they moved pass him.

"Then this is the time when I leave you three to capture the target." Ibiki said with a sadistic smile.

Ibiki's visage was lost within a gust of smoke which erupted from his feet, obscuring him from Naruto's vision. When the smoke was swept away by a light breeze, it wasn't a shock to see that Ibiki had vanished.

"So, shall we get to it?" asked Naruto with a small amount of faked enthusiasm.

Shino nodded to Naruto and faced Ino.

"As Ibiki-sensei said; the mission is our first priority, so you should complete it quickly." Shino said with an even voice.

Ino simply stared into Shino's glasses.

"You're a real ray of sun-shine, aren't you?" she snapped at him, before turning away and beginning to walk towards the target's location.

"This will be a piece of cake, sneak up to him, possess him, then they'll tie him up and that's it, we'll be done." she mumbled to herself, in an attempt to alleviate her nerves.

A few minutes later, each of the Genin were closing in on the location of the target, according to Shino, from different points around the circumference of it.

"You know, I could help you a bit, tell you what he's up to and stuff." said Anko casually as she walked along side Naruto, who was slowly sneaking around, closer and closer to the area where the target was.

"Yeah you could do that, in fact you should." snapped Naruto quietly.

Anko flashed Naruto a brief glimpse of her teeth, which happened to be rather sharp and white, something which disturbed Naruto. The truth be told, Naruto didn't exactly care what Anko did at that moment, as long as she didn't cause a break in his concentration. He hadn't mentioned it to Shino or Ino, but, if the rank of the mission wasn't misplaced, this mission was way above what any of them could be able to accomplish by themselves, they just weren't skilled enough.

Ibiki's reason's for choosing the mission and allowing them to wing it was _reasonable_ as it were, as long as they weren't caught out, Ino should be able to subdue the enemy, and he and Shino would be able to rope them up, and sedate them. On paper it was simple, almost too simple for Naruto's liking.

Finally, after all the sneaking, Naruto was able to lay his eyes upon the mission's objective. The first thing that went through Naruto's mind was; the man needed a shower, and a hair cut. His skin was covered with grit and dirt, Naruto could see barely any flesh through it, and the flesh he could see, wasn't healthy at all. The rag's which were his cloths seemed to be hanging off him in tatters, and his hair was stuck in dark clumps, the man, for lack of a better term looked dead.

"So, do you wanna know the simplest way to complete this mission?" whispered a voice into Naruto's ear, causing him to jump slightly, he tried to minimize the damage, but it had been done, the tree's around him had creaked in an unnatural way. It had been almost silent, but it had been enough, the man's head snapped up towards him, and Naruto dared not move a single muscle, the man's eyes were staring directly into his.

His eyes were crusted over, Naruto doubted he could see much, and so he didn't move, he held his breath. There was a slim chance that the man would place it down as his nerves, or even as an animal which slipped, and Naruto didn't want to discard that chance.

"Smooth move dumb-ass!" shouted Anko at Naruto as she let out a loud laugh to accompany her taunt.

Naruto grinded his teeth together as he forced himself to ignore Anko's barbs.

"So, they sent a bunch of Genin to deal with me, did they?" rasped a voice from behind Naruto, causing Anko to stop laughing as her eyes landed behind Naruto.

Naruto didn't waste any time, his body with a single kick of both his legs, lunged forwards, moving him out of the voices direct area. His right hand found its way to his weapons pouch, and his finger slid through the ring at the end of one of the kunai it contained. With a single swipe of his hand, out from his weapons pouch, he flung the kunai towards the inert form of the foe, which was still staring up at him.

A flurry of motion came from two separate points relatively close to Naruto.

"What are you doing!" shouted Ino as she burst forth from the foliage which concealed her presence.

Ten meters away, a kunai burst forth from the three tops, on a direct path with the one Naruto had thrown. The blade of the intercepting kunai glanced off the one Naruto had thrown, causing it to change its trajectory. So much in fact, that instead of continuing on its direct course with the 'target's head, it stabbed into his thigh.

As only one of the Genin expected, the target remained unfazed, the kunai had sunk right through it and the dull thud of it slicing into the earth below the 'target' filled the air.

"What the hell!" shouted Ino as she landed in the small clearing that the target _had_ been resting in. Beside her, Shino landed with out a sound.

"The target was aware of our presence." said Shino calmly as he observed Naruto.

"Well that's obvious, you idiot, I mean how! The freak was blind, no way he could ha-" she ranted as she scanned the area around her.

"It's quite simple little girl, when someone reaches my level of ability they don't need their basic senses to find weaklings like you three, especially if they make so much noise." rasped a voice into Ino's ear.

Ino didn't have a single moment to spare before she felt a pair of filthy arms ensnare around her, and trap her arms at her sides. Beside her, Shino lunged away and landed beside Naruto.

"Ino!" shouted Naruto as he prepared to attack.

"No, we have to disable the target; that is the mission priority." said Shino calmly as he flung both of his arms out towards Ino and the target. Almost instantly a dark wave erupted from both of his sleeves.

"We have to save Ino anyway, so we can save her first, since it'll be easier without him having a hostage." Naruto said angrily, as he turned his head and glared at Shino.

"That is acceptable." stated Shino, as with a twitch of his fingers the legions of bugs at his disposal rushed forth towards both Ino and Yaki. Beside him, Naruto calmly reached into a second pouch on his thigh, completely separate from the average weapon pouch which hung at the base of his back, on the right side.

"So, Shino, what approach do you think would be best in this situation? Subterfuge or the good old direct approach?" asked Naruto calmly, ignoring the indignant look which appeared on both Yaki's face and Ino's.

"The direct approach is the only one we have currently, the loss of surprise lowered the success rate of any type of subterfuge we could employ." said Shino calmly as he maneuvered his bug's around the area, keeping a set distance between them.

"Just hurry up and kick his ass already damnit!" shouted Ino as she struggled with the man holding her.

"Not so fast, I still feel the need to have a little snack." the man rasped out as he tightened his grip on Ino.

A look of disgust manifested on Ino's face as the man lowered his head to her neck, and she felt his teeth against her skin.

"Eww he's biting me, get him off!" Ino's shrill voice echoed through the forest around them as the man's teeth sunk into her skin. She began to trash harder.

Neither Shino, Ino or Yaki knew what happened, one second Ino and Yaki had been struggling with each other, and then the next, there was a javelin of earth sticking through the man's left shoulder.

"The hell!" snarled the man as he lost full mobility of his left arm, giving Ino enough leeway to escape from his clutches.

All three sets of eyes converged upon Naruto at roughly the same time, to find him with his arm out, pointing towards the dirt ridden man. Small wisps of smoke were willowing away from his palm, his other arm was slightly backed upon, but still parallel.

"You're the first person I've ever tried that on, I'm surprised it worked." remarked Naruto as he straightened up and dropped both of his hands to his sides and relaxed slightly.

"See, I got him off Ino and I disabled his left arm," said Naruto to Shino.

Shino nodded lightly.

"That is correct, but he is still capable of movement." Shino said mechanically, before his finger's twitched again, and the bugs surrounding Yaki converged upon him. In mere moment's the bugs had swallowed him entirely in their combined mass, and had begun to drain him of his chakra.

"Well that was easy enough." said Naruto happily as he surveyed the now barely moving mass of bugs which contained the objective of their mission.

Naruto wasn't given any warning before a palm came into contact with his cheek. His head was snapped to the side as the force of the slap forcefully turned his head.

"Dammit what was that for!" snapped Naruto at Ino, who was standing in front of him; she was shaking her now slightly red hand by her side.

"You idiot, first you let him bite me and then you use an _untested _technique to save me, I was right next to him, if you missed that could have been me." she yelled into Naruto's face. The glare she wore soon faded away though, and it was replaced with the same look of disgust that she had worn prior when the man had bit her. Realization flashed through her eyes as both of her hands found their way to her neck, where the man had bitten her.

"He bit me! The bastard bit me!" said Ino indignantly. "What if he had rabies?" she complained.

All Naruto could do was laugh, and brace himself as Ino slapped him again.

"It isn't over." stated Shino quietly.

True to Shino's word, the mass of bugs covering Yaki began to fall to the ground around him, and laughter began to echo out from below them. Ever so slowly Yaki began to rise up, and the bugs still covering him fell to the ground, dead.

Naruto and Ino stared on in horror as the still crusty eyes of Yaki opened up completely, and they were greeted with a pair of bloodshot eyes. Shino however, had a much less open reaction, or at least, that was what it seemed like.

"You drained them of the chakra they retained and their initial chakra." said Shino quietly.

Shino's shoulders were shaking lightly, although neither Naruto or Ino could see his eyes, or most of his face, they could feel the anger rolling off him in waves.

"You killed them." he whispered stoically.

"They tasted delicious." said Yaki mockingly.

Naruto's had soon found it's way to the pouch upon his thigh again.

"The mission's objective is to subdue the target by any means." stated Shino coldly.

In a millisecond an avalanche of insects erupted from Shino's sleeves, far more then Naruto could have ever assumed he would be able to conceal in his coat or body. The bugs made no move to get closer to Yaki instead they settled for hovering ominously around Shino, and hiding most of him from view.

"The target has incorporated several dozen thousand units' of chakra, approximately ten Genin's worth. The task of incapacitating him has just become a lot more difficult." stated Shino relatively calmly.

"You actually think you still have the ability to subdue me in anyway?" the man asked incuriously, his previously raspy voice seemed to have cleared up by a large leap. "Before you would have had a minor amount of difficulty doing so, but now you have no chance at all." he declared.

Naruto let out a laugh.

"You see, that'd be all good and well, but you bit Ino." To illustrate his point Naruto pointed to Ino's neck. "And I don't think she liked that."

Truth to Naruto's words, Ino was glaring hatefully at the energized Yaki.

A harsh laugh issued from the man's lips.

"And what can she do? She's just a Yamanaka." he mocked Ino loudly.

Naruto shook his head.

"Not what _she_ can do, but what **she** can do." he said as he pointed over the man's shoulder.

A snort issued from Yaki's nose.

"I won't even dignify that by acknowledging it," he said scathingly.

Naruto just shrugged.

"Suit yourself." he said with a small smile.

Seconds later the man's shoulder's and head slumped forwards, before snapping up. A feministic laugh echoed forth from the man's lips and he shook his head.

"What an idiot, I mean come on; he couldn't even tell that he was facing a clone? Now I see why we were picked for this, the guy was a total idiot." he all but shouted.

A sigh escaped Naruto as he nodded and walked behind the man, to where Ino's inert body was slumped down on the ground, he gently straightened her body out into a more comfortable position.

"Man, this guy has a lot of chakra right now, I mean, wow. And he got it all from Shino?" he asked almost silently.

"He was able to absorb the total amount of chakra that the bugs that were in contact with him, which was what they had absorbed over the past few years." he explained almost silently as he positioned his bugs around Ino.

"I will be retaking the chakra he stole now." he said, before the bugs converged again on Ino.

A girlish squeal erupted from the man's mouth as Shino's bugs began to siphon back the chakra he had been able to take from them. A few minutes later, the last of the bugs detached from Yaki's body, leaving it, along with the exhausted mind of Ino.

"I hate you Shino." Ino mumbled through the man's mouth, before collapsing downwards to the ground.

With that Ino shakily moved both of the man's hands behind his back and allowed Naruto to restrain him.

"That isn't the best of idea's, Naruto, he would be able to escape from any sort of binds you place on him quite easily." said a voice calmly from above the clearing.

Naruto, Shino's and 'Ino's' heads snapped up, and their eyes were laid upon Ibiki's visage.

"Well then what do you suggest we do?" asked Naruto amusedly.

"Leave that to me." said Ibiki as an ominous grin lit up his face.

It was then that Ino relinquished control of the man's body and returned to her own, leaving him in an unconscious state at their feet.

Naruto shrugged.

"So, did we pass the test?" asked Naruto.

"Test?" echoed Ino, before turning her head down to Naruto. "This was all a test!" she asked angrily.

"Yep, this was all a test." Ibiki said as he smiled down at the three Genin.

"And you passed with flying colours." he continued, before jumping down to the clearing, and landing beside Naruto and placing his hand upon Naruto's shoulder. "Now Shino, Ino, would you two please return to the village in advance, while I talk to Naruto for a bit? This shouldn't take very long."

Both Ino and Shino nodded, before turning towards the direction that they originally came from and setting off at a faster than average jog. Ibiki watched as the two young Genin made their way out of sight, and continued to stare after them after they had long since disappeared from his sight.

"Naruto," Ibiki said after a while.

"Yes Ibiki-sensei?" asked Naruto as he stared down at the prone body of Yaki.

"I find it odd, that you would place one rule aside, while you assume another rule as being unbreakable." Ibiki said as he slowly turned around to face Naruto.

"What do you mean?" asked Naruto confusedly.

"You rejected the ideal that you should put the mission before everything else, yet you assumed that even though I said that we would skip the usual beginnings as a squad, we still would do it. It seems you have a thing about following my words, you seem relatively unable to understand them." he finished gravely.

Naruto shrugged again.

"They don't suit me, and as you said this was just a test, so even if I listened it wouldn't have mattered, that is why I went the simple way about helping Ino, because I knew you'd intervene if I made a mistake or something." he explained, before turning his attention to the man who was lying at his feet, who had begun to stir.

Ibiki's eyes followed his line of sight, before a large boot slammed down upon the man's head, snuffing out any consciousness which would have taken hold.

"This wasn't a test, and I would only have helped if you managed to put each other in a situation where you would endanger the mission, or put each other in mortal danger. I'm slightly disappointed in you, but in the end, you worked together to trick an enemy who at the end, should have been far more then you could have hoped to defeat." Ibiki said calmly.

Naruto stared up into Ibiki's eyes unbelieving.

"But every Genin squad is supposed to be given a test to see if they, along with the basic skills, have the actual ability to become Genin, I read it, it was in an official document!" Naruto said, his voice beginning to rise with every syllable.

"No, it has never been a requirement. Most Jounin instructors choose to give a test to see if the Genin are ready." Ibiki said calmly, as he locked his eyes onto Naruto's, which were ridden with confusion.

"But-" began Naruto.

"But nothing. Knowledge is all good and well, but it won't always be able to help you in all situations. Your team-mates, however-" Ibiki interrupted, only to be, himself, interrupted.

"You said before that the mission came before everything else, you're contradicting yourself!" snapped Naruto.

"That's right, I am." Ibiki, as calmly as ever said.

"The mission is your first priority, but your missions will rely on your team-mates as much as they will on you. Which is something I was going to talk to you about later, but I will talk to you about it now. Your team-mates should be an extension of you."

"You make no sense at all, you keep contradicting yourself. First everything is for Konoha, even the lives of those around you, and then you say that they matter more then everything, yet still you say that the mission takes priority. Make up your god damn mind." shouted Naruto angrily, before he slammed his foot into the side of the unconscious enemy.

"You're angry now, aren't you? Confused?" asked Ibiki bemusedly.

"You're damn right I am, because you're pretending to be omniscient, but you're just being an asshole!" yelled Naruto, before he turned his back upon Ibiki.

"That wasn't very nice Naruto." said Anko amusedly from Naruto's side.

"I don't care if I'm not being nice." snapped Naruto as he folded his arms across his chest.

"I never assumed you did." Ibiki said with a small laugh in his voice.

Naruto's eyes narrowed. He hadn't managed to ignore Anko's words, and had spoken with them in mind, he was lucky that Ibiki didn't take notice at it, and that they worked with the situation so well.

"Ha ha, you're such a screw up." mocked Anko, before calming down. "But you're my screw up." she said sweetly as she trailed her finger's down Naruto's cheek, causing him to flinch away from her touch, something which Ibiki took note of.

"Is something wrong?" Ibiki asked half heartedly.

Naruto could only shake his head.

"So, do you understand now?" Ibiki asked stoically.

"I don't understand anything you've said, you can't even keep yourself on one track of thought." Naruto said sullenly.

"Exactly, nothing is certain, you can't write anything down and expect it to stay the same." exclaimed Ibiki happily.

Naruto turned his head back to face Ibiki, and was surprised to find a smile upon his lips.

"When the Sandaime told me you were rooted in your belief's I assumed it would have been harder to break you out of them, but here we are, you understand that you can't classify anything. I suppose Yoshino was incorrect, you're more then able to think outside your own boundaries." he said happily, before bending down and picking up the objective of the mission.

"Yoshino? Nara Yoshino? She is the cause of you making no sense!" asked Naruto perplexed.

"That's right, she used to be a peer of mine before she got married and had a kid. She used to be quite adept, even though she didn't use brute techniques." he said fondly, causing Naruto to wince; Ibiki's voice was disturbing.

"So what now?" asked Naruto quietly.

"Now, we return to Konoha, I take this man back to have some fun interrogation times with, to find out how he managed to escape in his original condition, and you go home to sleep-"

"But it's only mid-day." said Naruto dumbly.

Ibiki shrugged lightly, mimicking Naruto's early actions.

"Then go play, or whatever you kid's do these days, anyway, tomorrow we'll meet at the mission centre - actually could you tell Shino and Ino about that? We'll see about getting you three your wages for the mission." Ibiki said dismissively, before raising his hand into a familiar seal.

"Wait you aren't just goi-" Naruto never got the chance to finish the sentence, before Ibiki disappeared, along with Yaki leaving Naruto by himself in the small clearing.

"Dammit." Naruto let loose a few choice swear words that a boy his age shouldn't have known, before he yelled out.

"Shino, Ino, wait for me!"

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**So yeah, the end scene was a little weird for me but hey, you tell me what you guys think!**


	7. Notice

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When i began writing I said i'd never post a chapter just for the sake of putting out a notice, but I guess not everyone can keep their own word all the time.

**I suppose this is quite over-due, but i am afraid the circumstances just hit the point where I doubt i'll be able to continue soon enough with any of my stories. Before today it was because I ahd other engagement to attend to, such as school work and family. Unfortunately, I just received news that I have apparently lost every single byte of data on both my harddrives, which mean of course, that I have lost every single file to which I have any writing on, including all my notes.**

**I am offically on hiatus until I can gather my thought's and put everything back down onto paper, or file so to speak, or atleast until I get my computer back and am able to see for certain if i've lost everything, or the company I was forced to send the computer to has tried to take a bit more money then they are entitled. The original problem with the computer was a bit of trouble with the ramslot's, or so i assumed, but I won't get into that, my apologies to everyone who was waiting for an update on Intertwined, An Alternate path, or Veneficus, but i will be unable to update for atleast a few more weeks.  
**

**Not the best start to the new year, but it's a start, and i'll try and make a finish( for one of my stories) by the end.  
**

**Once again, my apologies,**

**_Jon_**

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_P.S I have something I was working on a few month's ago which was on my laptop, thankfully, i'll be uploading it within a few days, so, look forward to it, or not. _

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